The Fine Line
by xxbittersweet13xx
Summary: SEQUEL to "Her Red Ribbon". Life's good right after having a family together? Not if there's people out there who trys to tear you down and break you apart. And someone should tell Blaise there's a fine line between friendship and something more. DH/HG.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hi guys! This is SEQUEL to _"Her Red Ribbon"_. You do not need to read that to understand this story. But if you want to know how Draco and Hermione had gotten together, than you should go read that! I might make small references back to that story, but nothing too major.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter, but I wish I owned Draco Malfoy!

**CHAPTER ONE** - _Preparations_

"Come back here Scorpio!" Hermione called out, chasing the little blonde boy across the room and down the hall.

"Catch me mommy!" Scorpio's voice giggled as he ran as fast as his little legs could take him. He turned to look how far back Hermione was and wasn't watching where he was going and bumped into Blaise.

"Whoa there little tyke." Blaise laughed and scooped him up. He had just gotten back from work, where he considered himself Draco's assistant manager. He had been working for Malfoy Enterprise ever since Draco had taken over the company from Lucius.

"Thanks for catching him." Hermione walked up to Blaise and took Scorpio into her arms, "He's been running around all day and I need to get him dress!"

"Well, he's halfway there." Blaise stared amusedly at the topless little boy.

"Is Draco home?" Hermione asked, shifting Scorpio in her arms.

"He should be home soon, he just have a few things to finish up." Blaise told her. Hermione looked slightly disappointed. Blaise has been their close friend for years now, and he's usually over at the Malfoy Manor everyday after work. Usually, he would arrive with Draco, but lately, he's been arriving alone.

"Oh, okay." Hermione said softly.

"Don't worry Hermione, he'll be home soon." Blaise said, placing a hand on her shoulder. He seem to know what Hermione was thinking, "He's alone in the office."

Hermione nodded and took five year old Scorpio to the bedroom to finish up. When she was finished dressing Scorpio, she let him run out to Blaise. He and Scorpio were really close and Hermione was sure Scorpio would pick Blaise over her any day. Hermiones at down at her vanity table and looked at herself in the mirror. There was fine, tired lines on her flawless face, due to stress she presumed. People's always tell her that she worried too much about little things and it's true, but she couldn't help herself.

Of course she knew Draco would never cheat on her, but why hadn't he mentioned being busy with work at home? How could he be so busy with something he never talked about? Maybe it's that new secretary… Hermione shook her head, _There I go again…_

"Mom, dad's home." Giselle said from the doorway. Hermione spun around and looked at her daughter. Giselle had certainly grown up to be a beautiful girl, although she was only ten, she already had beautiful honey brown, wavy hair that fell to her mid back. Her eyes was silvery blue (silvery grey if the weather's dark) was framed with thick, long lashes.

"Where is he?" Hermione asked.

"Right here." Draco said, coming into view from the hallway. Giselle gave him a big hug before running off to find Scorpio, "Sorry I'm late."

_That's it? _Hermione thought.

"You've been saying that the past few weeks." Hermione pointed out. Draco walked over to her and pulled her onto her feet.

"I'm sorry, work's been a hassle." Draco murmured and pulled Hermione into his chest. It seemed like he's trying to get as close as he could to her.

"Why haven't you talked about it to me then?" Hermione looked up at him.

"I didn't want to worry you about it." Draco said, "It'll be over soon."

"I want to be there for you Draco." Hermione said stubbornly, "What is it about?" Draco sighed, he knew she wouldn't let up until she had gotten her answer.

"I think there's a snitch in our company." Draco said, "Somehow, all our information's been leaked out to our competitors. Luckily, only Blaise and I are the only one who knows everything about something. Employee's of the company only know bits and pieces of information. So the information that was leaked out was only _part_ of the whole product."

"Do you have any leads?" Hermione asked.

"No idea, we've narrowed it down to three people but we don't have any proof."

"I would add the new secretary onto that list." Hermione said bitterly.

"Don't like her much do you?" Draco laughed.

"Not one bit."

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

_Flashback_

_Hermione smoothed down her high-waisted skirt and pulled her blouse straight. She glanced at the clock at the Ministry. It was almost noon and she was already done talking to the head of the department of magical creatures. She was promoting her S.P.E.W proposition to the Ministry who seemed to be interested (maybe it was because her husband is a very influential person in the society). She has changed a few things on S.P.E.W, like instead of freeing all house-elves, she would simply ask owners to give them compensation for their work. It doesn't have to be a lot, but enough to make the elves feel appreciated._

_She quickly made her way out of the Ministry and apparated herself to Malfoy Enterprise. She was planning to drop by to give Draco a surprise. She quickly made her way to his office and was greeted by a unfamiliar face by the front desk._

"_Where's Lisa?" Hermione asked the new secretary. The secretary, who had horrible blonde hair (that was not natural of course) looked up at her._

"_She quit last week." The secretary simply said and examined Hermione up and down, "Who are you here for?"_

"_Draco Malfoy." Hermione said shortly, disliking the girl more and more. She glanced at the secretary's nametag: Jennifer. _

"_Do you have an appointment?" Jennifer asked, rather rudely while giving her looks, "He doesn't see anyone without an appointment." _

"_I didn't know his wife needed to make an appointment." Hermione said coldly. Jennifer narrowed her eyes and the word 'wife' and pressed a button on the phone (apparently Draco thought it would be great to have muggle contraptions in his office)._

"_Mr. Malfoy, I believe your wife-" Jennifer looked at her._

"_Hermione." Hermione rolled her eyes._

"_Right, your wife _Hermione_ is here to see you." Jennifer said her name as if it was a bad taste in her mouth, "She said she didn't have an appointment though." Hermione couldn't believe she had said that!_

"_My wife doesn't need an appointment." Draco said indifferently, "Send her in." Jennifer scowled and hung up._

"_His office is the last door at the end of the hallway." she said, not hiding her dark mood._

"_I know where his office his." Hermione said sending her a smirk she had learned from Draco over the years, "In fact, I know his office _very_ well." and left the secretary with her mouth hanging open._

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

Hermione headed off to the dining room while Draco went to find Blaise. Hermione took out her wand and started to decorate the dining room for the upcoming dinner.

"Mom, is there a letter for me today?" Giselle asked, bouncing into the room. Hermione sighed. Giselle had been asking if she had gotten a letter everyday, sometimes twice a day, ever since Hermione and Draco and told her that she will be getting a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts when she turns eleven. She had been asking three to four times a day now since her eleventh birthday is a week away.

"No sweetheart, you get it on the _day_ of your birthday." Hermione told her.

"Maybe they sent out early ones to special students!" Giselle said, trying to give herself hope.

"What makes you special?" Hermione laughed.

"I can make things move by looking at it and I can lift things up by thinking really hard sometimes." Giselle boasted. Hermione was sure the ego and boastfulness Giselle had were from Draco's side.

"Many students can do that." Hermione patted her shoulders, "When Harry was younger, he could make his hair grow within a day after it was practically shaven off."

"Can we at least go to Diagon Alley to shop for my materials?" Giselle pleaded.

"No, we will go when we get your letter." Hermione said firmly, "It will be next week."

"Daa gon Alley." Scorpio shouted as he came barrelling into the room, "Daa gon Alley!"

"Good job Scorpio!" Hermione bent down to give him a kiss on the cheeks.

"I don't think the colours coordinate very well." Narcissa said, sweeping gracefully into the room. Hermione had to hand it to her, age does not touch her one bit. She looked exactly like how she looked ten years ago, with slightly grey hairs. Her blonde hair was swept up in a bun as she walked in with a bit of arrogance in the air, "Green and red? It's hardly Christmas." With a graceful swish of her wand, the red turned into silver.

Hermione sighed, she was trying to mix the house colors of Slytherin and Gryffindor together, but Narcissa didn't seem to like it. Narcissa wasn't usually this uptight, but for the past week or so, she was uptight as ever. Giselle stared at Narcissa's wand admiringly.

"Oh I want a wand!" Giselle cried out.

"You know this isn't a time for house unity or anything." Narcissa said, after telling Giselle that she will get one next week.

"It's been ten years since Voldemort had fallen." Hermione pointed out.

"Yes, everyone had moved on with their life." Narcissa agreed, "But _he_ hasn't."

"Mother!" Draco said, coming into the room with Blaise by his side, "How was tea with Mrs. Zabini?"

"Delightful, as always." Narcissa said, clearly not paying attention to Draco. She seemed to have a lot of things on her mind. Draco sighed and looked at Hermione. Draco, Hermione noticed, looked good as age touched him. He no longer had his hair sleeked back or have any products in his hair. He simply let it fall naturally around his head. His jaw lines seemed more structured and his body was more chiselled, due to extracurricular activities such as quidditch.

"Daddy! Daddy!" Scorpio ran towards Draco, "Can we play quidditch?" he tugged on Draco's expensive suit.

"Not now Scorpio." Draco said, "You'll get your outfit dirty." Scorpio turned to Blaise and looked at him hopefully.

"You're daddy's right." Blaise told him. Scorpio pouted and went to Giselle who was constantly looking out the window to see if there were any owls coming.

Everyone was quiet and constantly looked out the window or try to hear for any particular noise. The grandfather clock chimed, indicated that it was six o'clock in the evening.

Suddenly, they all heard a _pop!_ outside the manor. Narcissa wringed her hands nervously and looked at Draco with fearful eyes. Draco nodded and looked at Hermione.

Lucius was home.

**xxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N:** So there's the first chapter! What did you guys think? Please review!

*** For those who did not read _Her Red Ribbon_, Lucius was sent to Azkaban for ten years. He is now released. So this story took place ten years after _Her Red Ribbon_. ***

Maybe it's best if you guys read _Her Red Ribbon_ because even though I make little references back, it will make much more sense if you had read it. Thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO - **_Unwanted Letter_

Dinner was relatively quiet with a lot of awkward silence. Lucius had regained his seat at the head of the table, making Draco take the other end. Lucius stared at Hermione a lot, and he made no attempt to hide it. It's not like he didn't know who she was, who doesn't know Hermione Granger? The girl who was once part of a group called Golden Trio?

In fact, Draco had been keeping Lucius updated about his company, and his life. Of course, Lucius was displeased that Draco had chosen to marry a "mudblood", but as years passed, Draco managed to erase that dirty word from his father's mouth. Hermione was known as "Draco's wife" now.

"How's the company Draco?" Lucius asked, as he leaned back against his chair.

"Not doing too bad father." Draco replied simply.

"Actually, it's doing really well." Hermione said proudly. She wasn't going to let Draco's years of hard work sound just satisfactory, especially in front of Lucius, "Sales has been increasing significantly since he took over. Now it's on a steady and stable climb upwards."

Draco shot Hermione a sideway glance and gave her a small, appreciative smile. But Lucius raised his eyebrows.

"Are you saying that I am incompetent to do what is right for my company when I was in charge?" Lucius asked coldly.

"No! Of course not Mr. Malfoy, I was simply saying that Draco is doing very -" Hermione widened her eyes at his accusation, but Lucius cut her off.

"And may I ask why you know about my son's company's progression?"

"I am his wife, and I handle his financial accounts." Hermione said with a steady voice.

"You let your _wife_ handle such a important job?" Lucius drawled, "That job is for a man, not a woman. In fact, Narcissa hardly knows what goes on in my company, right dear?" Narcissa gave a curt nod before concentrating on her food.

"Time has changed Mr. Malfoy. Women can perfectly do whatever men can." Hermione pointed out.

"Are you implying that Narcissa can't handle what you can?" Lucius asked with a smirk, knowing perfectly well at how uncomfortable he was making Hermione.

"No! of course not! I just meant that-" Hermione tried to find the perfect phrase, but she was too frazzled.

"Actually, the company is doing very well." Blaise came to Hermione's rescue, "I've been book keeping all the records and Malfoy Enterprise is one of the top five companies."

Lucius shot frazzled looking Hermione a smirk before saying to Blaise and Draco, "I am impressed."

Giselle, who knew everything about Lucius, sat in silence the whole time. Hermione had told Giselle everything about Lucius and that she would be better off not to attract too much attention to herself. Hermione doesn't care if Lucius hates on her or tries to harm her, she can take care of herself. Her kids on the other hand, are everything and she couldn't risk them to be at the other end of Lucius' wrath.

Scorpio, who was too young to understand, finally finished his food. No one noticed as he climbed off his seat and walked towards Lucius. Hermione saw Giselle stiffen out of the corner of her eyes. She turned to look at Giselle, who was looking at Scorpio's empty seat. Hermione froze and saw Scorpio next to Lucius' seat. Lucius was about to say something when something had interrupted him. He looked down at the little blonde boy, who was climbing his lap. Narcissa gave an audible gasp and clasped her hands over her mouth.

"Scorpio! Get back in your seat!" Hermione scolded, "That is very rude!" Scorpio, of course, paid no attention to her. He then reached up and touched Lucius' long, silvery-white hair which caused another gasp from Narcissa.

"I like your hair." Scorpio said, smiling up at him, "Silver's my favourite color, your hair's my favourite color." His speech wasn't too clear yet, so favourite sounded like "fav-woite"

Everyone was looking at Lucius and Hermione would see that Draco already had his hands by his wand, ready to whip it out if needed.

"Well, you may touch it whenever you want." Lucius patted the boy's head. Everyone was shocked at Lucius' words, "Now run along to your seat." Lucius gently placed him on his feet and swatted his bum lightly. Narcissa looked like she was about to cry and Draco just stared at him with his mouth open.

"This is my grandson, I will not be blaming him for any actions you have done." Lucius said, looking at Draco. Hermione knew that by "any actions" meant marrying her, a muggle born. Lucius turned to Giselle, "I heard it's your birthday next week, what would you like?" Giselle's eyes widened and looked at Hermione, who nodded for her to answer.

"All I want is my Hogwarts letter of acceptance." Giselle said with confidence in her voice, "And to spend a whole day in Diagon Alley, shopping for my materials." Lucius raised his eyebrows.

"Do you want cashmere robes?" he asked.

"Don't spoil our kids." Hermione said, "They need to learn the value of money."

"We got plenty here, you can even wipe your-" but Lucius was cut off by Draco.

"I don't think that is appropriate with the company we have here."

"Do you know what house you're going to be in?" Lucius ignored Draco and looked at Giselle.

"Well, I've been reading it up in a book I found in the library. I posses the qualities of a Gryffindor, brave, confident and able to stand up for what's right. Then again, I also posses the quality of a Ravenclaw, smart and love to read. I definitely do not posses any Hufflepuff qualities." Giselle said, with a Malfoy worthy smirk, "And finally, I strongly posses Slytherin qualities. I usually want my way, I hardly trust anyone, I can survive on my own and I will do anything to be on top. Of course, I trust my own parents." Lucius' eyebrows shot up, clearly impressed with her little analysis of herself.

"I think I heard a bit of cockiness in there." Lucius clucked his tongue. Giselle straightened her back and narrowed her eyes.

"It's confidence, not cockiness." Giselle informed him. Lucius gave her a nod and stood up.

"Dinner was pleasant enough." Lucius nodded, "I'm going to retire in my room. Draco, may I have a word with you in the study first?" House-elves immediately came in to clear the table as Draco went to meet his father in the study.

"I'm going to retire as well." Narcissa said, standing up, "Tonight wasn't as bad as I thought." she smiled at Hermione before leaving.

"Mom, can I go to my bedroom?" Giselle asked.

"Take Scorpio with you." Hermione said and leaned back against her chair. Soon, only Blaise and Hermione were in the dining room.

"I don't think he likes me much." she commented.

"It'll take some getting use to." Blaise assured her, "He'll warm up to you in no time."

"I hope so." Hermione sighed, "Did you hear about the new Hogwart rules?"

"I don't believe I have."

"Not only are they sending the kids letters of acceptance, but they are also sending their parents one." Hermione stretched.

"That's a waste of paper." Blaise joked, "I wonder why they are doing that."

"I have no clue, maybe for divorced parents who doesn't live with their kids? So that they would know that their kids got accepted." Hermione guessed, "That would be the only reason that makes sense."

Blaise pondered that reason for a minute before standing up. He bent forward towards Hermione, over exaggerating his gentleman actions and offered his hands out to Hermione.

"May I help the fair lady out of her chair?" He said in a fake, pompous voice. Hermione laughed and took his hand as he pulled her out of her chair. They walked towards the dining room doors together but just as they were about to exit the room, an owl came pecking at the window. Hermione quickly let the owl in and took the letter out of mouth.

"It's addressed to Draco." Hermione said, looking at the envelope, "Why is this owl giving it to me?"

"I have no clue." Blaise shrugged. Hermione sniffed it and smelled some sort of women's perfume.

"It's from a girl" Hermione pointed out, "I'm opening it."

"You can't do that! It's for Draco!" Blaise protested.

"The owl had given it to_ me_ so it must have thought that I should read it!" Hermione said, and was already digging her nails under the envelope seal.

"Right, an owl knows these kind of things." Blaise rolled his eyes.

"And it's from a girl!" Hermione gave up and ripped open the envelope instead, "A girl who sprayed her perfume all over it. What a slut." Blaise's eyes widened at Hermione's choice of words.

"Fine, who's it from anyways?" he asked as Hermione's eyes scanned the letter. Her face shrouded with anger and her left hand crushed the envelope.

"It's from Astoria Greengrass."

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N:** So what do you guys think? Hopefully this will be better than my last story, I have two months of no school so hopefully I can put more effort into this story! Please read and review! Thanks! **xoxo**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **Thanks for the reviews guys! It means a lot! Just to let you guys know, I'll be switching POV (point of views) throughout the story, but I will make it obvious who's POV it is and that it wont be out of nowhere. I will be putting breaking points in between POV like this **************. **

Sorry for the late update, I was watching the World Cup and was super depressed that Portugal was eliminated.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter, unfortunately.

**CHAPTER THREE - **_Everyone who's someone. _

"Astoria? She's back?" Blaise asked, dumbfounded.

Everyone knew Astoria had left London right after she finished school for Bulgaria. She made sure the entire school knew that she was planning to live with her new Bulgarian boyfriend because she was too in love with him to be parted from her new boy toy. But everyone knew she was just saying that to get back at Draco.

Draco and Astoria had a thing during seventh year, in fact, Astoria can actually be considered Draco's girlfriend. Draco never had girlfriends, just flings. After six months, Draco must have gotten tired of her and broke up with her. Everyone knew how devastated Astoria was, but she putted on a mask and said she didn't care one bit. The week after the break up she had announced that she had a new boyfriend who is Bulgarian. Apparently his family owns a few castles in Bulgaria, but that is coming from her.

After seeing that Draco didn't really care, she rounded on Pansy, who was her best friend then, to ask if she knew why Draco was acting this way. Pansy, who everyone knew, was in love with Draco the whole time he was with Astoria. In fact, she had slept with him the moment they broke up. Rumors had it that he had cheated on Astoria with Pansy, but Hermione doubted that because Astoria was way prettier than Pansy can ever be.

"Read this!" Hermione cried out angrily, thrusting the letter at Blaise. He gave a look before looking down at the letter.

_Dearest Draco,_

_I just wanted to let you know that after ten years, I've decided to move back to London. Unfortunately, things did not work out with the Bulgarian, but that's how life works right?_

_I've heard that you were supposed to be wedded to Pansy Parkinson, but ended up with Hermione Granger. I'm glad you didn't marry Pansy because she would have been a big mistake. But I can't say you've made a better choice either. Now your pure bloodline has been tainted by the most impurest blood. At least she's not a muggle, or some sort of half breed giant. I am not to judge your relationship, for mine has not worked out perfectly. I was lucky enough to get out of it before it was too late. Hopefully, you're going to realize soon that having a silver pure bloodline is something to be treasured. _

_On the other hand, I've heard your company is a great success. In fact, people in Bulgaria even know of Malfoy Enterprise. Everyone who I've told that you and I were once something special were very impressed. I like to keep things on the quiet side though so many people doesn't know. Who knows what the future has in store for us? It would be very nice if we can grab coffee and catch up._

_Say hello to your mother for me, and your father as well._

_Lots of love, Astorta Greengrass_

"Quiet side my arse!" Hermione growled, "She had four failed marriages within a ten years span! Keeping it quiet? Please!"

"It looks to me that Astoria still has a thing for Draco." Blaise said, handing back the letter.

"No kidding!" Hermione cried out and walked towards the fireplace.

"Aren't you going to give that to Draco?" Blaise asked.

"No."

"That's not fair, you know that. What if someone wrote you a letter and he burnt it?' he asked. Hermione growled and planted her hands on her hips.

"What are you trying to do here?" she demanded.

"For ten years, you guys never kept anything from each other. If you are going to start lying and hiding things from him, this will be the start of your relationship's downfall." Blaise pointed out.

"And when were you such a relationship expert?" Hermione said grudgingly.

"Just because I never had a steady girlfriend, doesn't mean I don't know what a guy wants." Hermione sighed and looked down at the letter. Blaise walked over and placed his hands on her shoulders, "Draco really loves you, he's not going to let Astoria ruin anything."

"I bet Lucius would love it better if he had married Astoria instead of me." Hermione mumbled.

"Probably." Blaise agreed, earning a glare from Hermione, "But when does Draco listen to his dad anyways? He always stood up for what he wanted, and he wanted you among anything else. Doesn't that say something?"

Hermione sighed and shoved the letter back into the torn up envelope. She hated it when Blaise was right, no one was ever right when they have an argument with Hermione Granger.

"Okay, fine. Just to let you know, I'm going to be holding you responsible if anything happens!" Hermione pointed her fingers at him.

"Of course you will." He laughed and slapped her fingers lightly.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

Draco entered the study and saw his father sitting behind the desk playing with his wand idly.

"How is your marriage Draco?" Lucius asked, looking at him.

"Better than ever." Draco replied, showing no fear, "I love her more than anything."

"Astoria's back, did you know?" Lucius said.

"No, I was not informed." Draco said stiffly, which was true.

"Perhaps you should go have coffee with her and catch up…" Lucius trailed off, but he didn't need to say anything more because Draco has understood his hint.

"That will not be necessary father." Draco said, eyeing the wand in Lucius' hands.

"No? Perhaps you and your _wife_ can host a party and invite everyone who's someone." Lucius suggested, even though it was more of a command.

"I will ask _Hermione_ if she would like to do that." Draco knew though, that Hermione hated hosting parties.

"Maybe the Notts and them would like to join." Lucius said.

"No, you will be the only Death Eater invited." Draco said firmly. Lucius raised his eyebrows.

"Ex-Death Eater." Lucius corrected. They heard Hermione and Blaise bickering down the hallway about something, but they couldn't hear what, "I'll be retiring now, goodnight Draco." and with that, he swept out of the room.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

Hermione froze when she saw Lucius walked out of the study room. She tried to look away, but Lucius held her gaze. Seconds felt like hours before Lucius turned to Blaise and nodded and him. Hermione rushed into the study and saw Draco sitting on the edge of the desk.

"Draco?"

"What is it sweetheart?" he looked up, giving her a tired smile. Hermione hesitated, gripping the wrinkled letters in her hands. Blaise gave her a hard shove from behind sending her flying forward. She turned around and glared at the grinning Blaise, who was apparently pleased with his work.

"Astoria has sent you a letter." Hermione gave him the letter, "I don't know why Kailen (the owl) gave it to me. I thought it was mine so I opened it." Blaise gave a loud cough, earning a death glare from Hermione.

Draco gave her an amused look before smoothing out the letter to read it. After a few minutes, he crumpled the letter and toss it in the fireplace.

"That's it?" Hermione asked, dumbfounded.

"Ya, where's her punishment?" Blaise teased. Hermione threw him a punch in the arms before huffing.

"My father wants us to throw a party." Draco told Hermione, "And that everyone is to be invited. Everyone who's someone."

"Well, have fun you two, I'm heading home." Blaise said, taking the opportunity to escape. He hopped into the fireplace and disappeared.

"Draco, do we have to?" Hermione asked, sighing. Draco walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"It might get you on father's good side." Draco murmured into her hair.

Hermione looked up and kissed his lips softly. Draco ran his hands through her hair and cupped her face. He deepened the kiss, making her moan softly into his lips.

With one swift movement, Draco had Hermione sitting on the desk with her legs wrapped around him. Hermione bit down softly on his lips causing Draco to growl and push her on her back.

One of his hand reached to the waist band of her jeans and popped the button open and pull down her pants. Hermione gasped as her felt Draco against her. Soon, clothes were bring flung all over the place and thrown on the floor.

Draco looked down at Hermione. After ten years and two kids, she managed to get back in shape. Draco grabbed her lacy panties and ripped them off, causing them to tear.

"Malfoy." she growled about her ripped underwear.

"It was in my way."

With one swift movement, they were one. Hermione gasped as she felt herself climbing the ladder of pleasure. Hermione clenched her wall muscles around Draco.

"Do that one more time and I can't promise you I will hold any longer." he growled. She did it again, making Draco push violently into her. Sweat and pleasure mixed as moans and passion did. Soon, both screamed out in pleasure as they plunged head first over the cliff.

Draco lay panting on top of her as Hermione stroked his hair. Ten years, and sex was still good as ever. Draco quickly put a contraceptive spell on Hermione.

"We're not ready for a third one yet." He whispered and kissed her softly. Draco waved his wand and both were dressed in their Pjs. The clothes that were on the floor disappeared and he carried Hermione into their room.

He placed her on the bed softly and wrapped his arms around her.

"I hope Narcissa will help with the party." Hermione yawned as she pulled Draco closer.

"You know she will be more than happy to." Draco chuckled, "I think she's already waiting for you to ask." Hermione laughed and kissed Draco once again on the lips.

"I love you."

"I love you angel."

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N:** There you go guys! Chapter 3! I'm working on Chapter 4 right now, so hopefully that's up soon. Again, thanks for the reviews! **xoxo**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **Sorry for the late update! The sun finally came out this summer and I was taking full advantage of it!

**CHAPTER FOUR -**_Hasn't anyone told you beautiful woman doesn't deserve to cry?_

Asking Narcissa for help may be worse than not asking her for help. Everything Hermione chose either wasn't matching or doesn't suit the occasion. Hermione was running around the manor, contacting every possible designer and fabric store and was exhausted by the end of the day. Narcissa on the other hand, had house-elves do all the running around for her. She even have the kids help do the invitations, well more of Giselle. Scorpio was just scribbling on spare pieces of envelopes.

"Hermione dear." Narcissa beckoned her to come into her room. Jean-Claude, Narcissa's personal designer, was looking at a dress that a mannequin was wearing.

"Yes Narcissa?" Hermione asked, clearly tired.

"What do you think of your dress?" She waved her hands at the mannequin. The dress was ruby red and white and it reached the floor. It was a mermaid style dress, so it was tight at the top and slowly, it flared out at the bottom.

"What? Are you serious?" Hermione's mouth dropped open. She thought the dress was for Narcissa, but clearly, it wasn't.

"Oh close your mouth before a hippogriff flies in." Narcissa reprimanded. Hermione quickly closed her mouth and blushed. Usually she had perfect manners in front of Narcissa, but times like this would catch her off guard.

"Sorry, I thought this beautiful dress was for you." Hermione explained her rude behaviour.

"Red just isn't my color." Narcissa gave a small smile. She ushered Hermione to the washroom so she could try on her dress. When she came out, Jean-Claude clapped his hands enthusiastically.

"Oh zis iz perfect!" he exclaimed flamboyantly. Giselle and Scorpio came rushing in.

"We're done!" Giselle announced proudly handed over the invitations, "It's alphabetically organized too."

"Why, thank you." Naricssa smiled, "Would you like to owl them for me?" Giselle's eyes widened excitedly. She always wanted to use an owl, now it was her chance. Her eyes looked over to her mother.

"Wow! You look beautiful." Giselle said breathless.

"Pretty mommy!" Scorpio agreed.

"She is isn't she?" Narcissa said admiringly. Hermione blushed a second time, Narcissa had never praised her like this before, "Well, hurry. The party is tomorrow so they better get the invitation today." The kids ran out quickly to find the owls in their private owlery.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

It was the day of the party, and of course everyone RSVP'd "yes". No one would ever miss a Malfoy party. Missing a Malfoy party would knock them down a few steps off the socialite ladder.

Hermione stared at herself in the mirror. Jean-Claude was standing behind her fixing her hair. This was just like the day she married Draco ten years ago. Jean-Claude, who also did her hair then, was doing her hair now. Giselle came prancing in the room in her new dress that Narcissa had bought her.

"People are here mother! Grandma said you have to be down to greet them!" Giselle said. Hermione sighed and stood up, "Dad's down there already." Hermione narrowed her eyes and nodded. She didn't want to appear jealous, but she had to get to Draco before Astoria or Pansy did. Or any other horny girls in general did.

When Hermione entered the foyer, she could see people looking at her. Some were looking at her admiringly, some were glaring at her. Those who were glaring at her, of course, were girls who were still holding a grudge against her for marrying Draco ten years ago. Her eyes roamed the room and saw Draco…and Astoria.

_Of course she would head to him first._ Hermione thought bitterly. She watched Astoria batted her eyelashes and flirtingly slapped Draco's arms. Hermione then noticed Pansy by the corner of the room with Daphne Greengrass, shooting Astoria evil looked.

"Look's like there's lots of competition here." Blaise laughed behind Hermione. Hermione turned around to see the Blaise wearing a sharp suit. She had to admit that he looked very good. He flashed her a million dollar smile, "You look absolutely stunning Hermione." He took one of her hands and kissed it, causing her to blush.

"I highly doubt I would even get a moment with my husband tonight." Hermione sighed looking over at them. Draco had a slightly amused look on his face as Astoria brushed her hands on his chest.

"Of course you will, during the time you guys give toast." Blaise smiled.

"Oh you think you're funny don't you?" Hermione snapped.

"Hilarious in fact." Blaise winked, "Oh look at the blonde over there. I'll be right back." as he bee-lined towards the busty blonde on the other side of the room. Hermione sighed, plastered a smile on her face and greeted the guests who walked by.

"Er-my-ninny?" a deep voice asked from behind. She whirled around and was face to face with Victor Krum.

"Victor!" Hermione exclaimed, "What are you doing here?"

"Narcissa haff invited me." Victor replied, "What are you doing alone?"

"Oh, Draco seems…preoccupied with the guests." Hermione involuntarily moved her eyes over to where Draco and Astoria was standing. Victor seemed to notice and grunted.

"Vell, why don't you go over and talk to him." Victor advised, but Hermione shook her head.

"Oh you know me Victor, I don't like to make a big scene."

"Vell, Pansy seem like she's about to." Victor pointed out. Hermione whirled around to see Pansy stalking over to Astoria and Draco.

_Uh oh…_ An alarm went on in Hermione's head. Both Victor and Hermione watched Pansy planted her hands on her hips in between Draco and Astoria. There seemed to be a lot of words being exchanged. Astoria laughed, which made Pansy even angrier. Draco stood aside looking amused as two girls were arguing over him.

"Look at him, he enjoys this! Does he not remember that he has a wife?" Hermione gritted her teeth. She must be trembling with anger because Victor placed both hands on her shoulders.

"Calm down Er-my-ninny." Victor soothed.

"Calm down? This is an embarrassment!" Hermione cried out, "Tomorrow's Daily Prophet will be filled with accusations saying Draco is looking for a mistress!"

"Haff you thought maybe he is?" Victor replied. Hermione froze. Victor spun her around to face him, both his hands still on her shoulders, "You deserve better than that, you're beautiful, smart and definitely do not deserve to be treated like this."

"He didn't even compliment me tonight…or said anything to me in fact. I thought he would at least come see me before heading downstairs." Hermione looked down, sad. Victor gathered her in his arms and gave her a big hug.

"I'm sorry to break this up." A cold voice said from behind. Hermione whirled around to face a very angry looking Draco.

"She was upset. She needed comforting." Victor replied, not backing down to Draco's glare. Hermione subtly shrugged out of Victor's grip.

"Thank you Victor, why don't you go mingle with the rest of the guests?" Hermione said softly.

"Or maybe you can be escorted out of the house." Draco said harshly.

"No, you can stay." Hermione said firmly, "Try the punch over there, it's really good." She gave Victor a pleading look behind Draco's back. He looked at her for a brief second before giving a curt nod and walked towards the punch table.

"What was that?" Draco demanded, rounding on Hermione.

"Excuse me?" Hermione said angrily. Draco dragged her to a private room, "You and Astoria were making a big scene yourself! You let her throw herself all over you!"

"You let Victor slobber all over you!" Draco shot back.

"He wasn't slobbering all over me!" Hermione cried out, "He was comforting me because of what you were doing! Did you enjoy having Pansy and Astoria fight all over you?"

"Look-" but Hermione cut him off.

"No, you _look_." Hermione growled, "I don't need every newspaper tomorrow claiming that you have a mistress. Do you know what you did was embarrassing? Wake up Draco, you're married and have two beautiful kids. _Grow up_! You're not in Hogwarts anymore, you're not the _Slytherin King_ anymore. You're my husband, and I expect you to be committed. What you did just goes to show how much you don't care for this family."

Draco looked at her with his mouth slightly opened. There was a knock on the door and a head peeked in.

"Draco?" Astoria's voice floated in from the door. Hermione rolled her eyes, "I finally got Pansy off my back." she stepped in and saw Hermione.

"Hello Astoria." Hermione said coolly.

"Oh!" Astoria exclaimed, pretended to look sorry, "I didn't mean to intrude."

"Go away, you're clearly not wanted here." Hermione snapped.

"I'd like to say likewise." Astoria sneered, "You don't seem to satisfy Draco's need, that's why he needs someone who does. It would be better if he just divorced you, you already tainted his bloodline." Hermione would be lying if she had said that didn't hurt, but she wasn't going to let Astoria have the satisfaction of knowing her words had affected her.

Hermione drew herself to her full height and walked towards Astoria. Astoria took a faltering step back.

"Get out." Hermione said coldly.

"Excuse me?" Astoria's eyes widened. She looked over at Draco for help, but he just shrugged and avoided her eyes.

"You heard me."

Astoria sent her a hateful look before backing out the door. When she was gone, Hermione turned to Draco.

"Couldn't even stand up to her could you?" Hermione said sourly, "I hope you like sleeping by yourself." and with that, she swept out of the room.

Blaise was waiting by the foyer. When he saw Hermione, he quickly rushed to her.

"What happened? Astoria came stomping out and looked like she was going to hex anyone who was in her way." Blaise placed a hand on Hermione's shoulders to stop her from walking past him.

"I'm not staying here tonight." Hermione said simply.

"How about the kids?"

"I'm sure Draco wouldn't mind their company." Hermione shot Draco a glare as she saw him come out of the room. Draco gave her a guilty look before sulking over to the fireplace. Hermione saw Pansy practically tripping over her own feet trying to get to Draco.

"Where are you going to stay?" Blaise asked. Hermione, who was busy looking at Draco and Pansy, sighed. Draco must have said something mean because Pansy looked like she was about to cry. After a bit, Draco left Pansy standing by the fireplace alone.

"I don't know Blaise, maybe a hotel or something." Hermione finally answered, tearing her gaze away from Pansy.

"No way, you can't stay at the hotel." Blaise shook his head, "Do you know what the media would say if they see you staying at the hotel alone?"

"I'm sure they'll be saying something tomorrow about Draco's behaviour already!"

"Don't be silly, you're welcome to stay at my place." Blaise offered.

"What about that blonde you were talking to earlier?" Hermione raised her eyebrows, "Won't you be bringing her home?"

"Nah, you're clearly upset and need somewhere to stay." Blaise smiled warmly at her, "You're much more important than some slag."

Hermione looked like she was about to cry. She flung herself into his arms and gave him a bear hug.

"Thanks, you're the best friend everyone wished they had."

"That's right, keep that in mind!" Blaise joked, "And hasn't anyone told you beautiful woman doesn't deserve to cry?" Hermione backed away and smiled at him.

"Thanks again Blaise."

"Anything for you Hermione."

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N: **Hope you guys review! I thinkkk there may be something going on between Blaise and Hermioneee! Maybe!

This is Hermione's dress, I know it's a wedding-style dress, but since this is a super classy party, I figure it would fit.

http : / www . weddingdressonlineshop . co . uk / 104-208-large / taffeta-mermaid-wine-red-and-lace-hot-sell-wedding-dress-with-lace-up-wm-0094 . jpg

Just put everything together, apparently links don't show up on this site. So just delete the spaces (DO NOT delete the dashes! "-")


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **Thanks to those who reviewed! Didn't get as much as I hoped but I'll try to make it better than. And for those who wondered, Draco hasn't slept with Astoria since Hogwarts years. Remember, this was their first encounter since she came back from Bulgaria.

**CHAPTER FIVE -**_The Son_

Draco watched Hermione chatting with Blaise animatedly. He then glanced over at Pansy, who sent him sulky looks. It wasn't his fault that he had told her that what they had in Hogwarts was meaningless and something he didn't want to repeat again. Astoria, on the other hand, he couldn't find the heart to be mean to. He wasn't sure why, maybe because what they had in Hogwarts ran deep within him. He actually liked her a lot when they were dating, she wasn't some fling that he would just sleep with and throw away.

Lucius came up to Draco and handed him a drink.

"Why was Astoria so upset?" he asked. Draco shrugged, he didn't want to talk about it much, especially with his dad.

"I see…" Lucius said slowly, clearly not believing him, but decided to drop it, "Narcissa has tucked the kids in bed." Draco just nodded.

Finally, the party had came to an end and as the guest left, they complimented on how great the party was. Narcissa, of course, gracefully accepted it. Draco turned to find Hermione, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Mother, where's Hermione?" Draco asked. Narcissa shot him a look.

"I don't know what you did to her, but she's staying at Blaise's tonight." Narcissa gave him a disapproving look before she swept away.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

Draco laid awake all night. Occasionally he would subconsciously reach over to Hermione's side to feel her warm skin, but only to be met with cold sheets. He suppose Hermione staying with Blaise is better than her staying at a hotel where random guys could pick her up.

He imagined how she looked tonight in his head. Of course she looked beautiful, in fact, she looked stunning tonight. But did he tell her that? No, he didn't think he did. He mentally kicked himself for being so stupid. He told her she was beautiful everyday, but the one day where she actually dressed up to impress him, he didn't say anything. How stupid could he have gotten?

Something tapped again the window, causing Draco to snap out of his train of thoughts. He sat up and saw one of the family owls waiting outside. He quickly leapt out of bed and practically ran over to the window. Maybe Hermione has written him a letter! He may have ripped the letter a bit too roughly off the owl's leg because the owl hooted angrily at him.

"Sorry." He muttered and flipped the envelope over. On the front was Hermione's name scrawled untidily. That was odd, this letter was _for_ Hermione, not _from_ Hermione. Draco angrily slap the letter down on the desk in frustration, "Do I look like Hermione to you?" he growled at the owl who gave him an offended look. Draco wandered back to his bed and sat down, but the owl didn't leave.

"You want a reward for delivering a letter to the wrong participant?" Draco asked, knowing it was stupid to talk to an animal. His attention shifted back to the letter, which sat on the desk. The writing definitely looked like it was written by a guy. Should he open it?

Of course not! It wasn't his to open, no matter how curious he was.

_Ah…but she opened your letter from Astoria didn't she?_ The devil in his head said. Draco agreed in his head, she did open his letter. He looked over at the letter again. The owl hopped down to the desk and kicked the letter towards him. Draco's eyes widened. Did the owl want Draco to open it? He made his way over to the desk and picked up the envelope and looked at the owl. The owl hooted softly, as if encouraging him to open it. He shook his head, where his parents got these owls was way beyond his comprehension. He looked down at the envelope again and ripped it open and pulled out the piece of paper.

After a few minutes of reading, he tightened his fist causing the letter to crumple a bit. The owl seemed to think his work was done here because he flew out the window.

Draco slammed the letter down on the table causing the whole table to shake.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

When Hermione and Blaise apparated back to his house, he showed her the room she would be staying at.

"Isn't this your room?" she asked about the elegant room. The room was dimmed to the perfect setting to get a lady in bed, "And what's up with the light? I am _not _sleeping with you tonight." she joked.

"Oh damn, then you might as well go home." He joked back, "This apartment only has one room. I never thought I would have the need to accommodate guests…guests that sleeps on a separate bed." he winked at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Let me guess, the lighting is permanently set at this level to seduce your guests."

"They don't call you the smartest witch in Hogwarts for no reason." He smiled.

"Where will you be sleeping?" she asked. He gave her a fake surprised look.

"Right next to you of course!" he said. Hermione stared at him, not sure if he was serious or not.

"You'd like that wouldn't you?" She said and thought it was the best answer.

"I've told Draco that if he didn't go for you already, I would take you off the market." Blaise said and walked over to the closet.

"You didn't even talk to him back then." Hermione reminded him.

"Ya, well, it's the thoughts that count." He laughed and tossed her a woman's pyjamas.

"Where you get this?" she asked as she caught it.

"I bought it in case any lady needs it." Blaise shrugged, "But of course, they didn't. This is a no-clothes-zone actually, but since you're my best mates wife, I will make an exception." he gestured to his room. Hermione rolled her eyes and went into the bathroom to change.

After getting changed and brushed her teeth, she came out and found Blaise staring at a piece of paper.

"What is it?" Hermione asked as she walked over to him. He just thrust the letter at her mutely and nodded for her to read it. She gave him a curious look and read the letter.

_Dear Mr. Blaise Zabini,_

_It is a pleasure to let you know that your son will be attending Hogwarts this September. Included in this letter will be the materials that he will need before school starts, which can be easily found in Diagon Alley. We have already received confirmation that he will be attending Hogwarts, so you do not need to send another confirmation. _

_Good day to you._

_Sincerely, Albus Dumbledore._

_PS. Your son will be ready to be picked up from Italy a week from September if you wish. If not, there can be arrangements on how he will be arriving to Hogwarts._

Hermione had to read the letter twice before looking at Blaise, who was pale. She pulled out an other piece of paper containing the address in Italy.

"You have a son?" She whispered.

"No!" Blaise shouted quickly, "Not that I know of. This must be a joke, Draco probably sent it as a joke." he reassured more to himself.

"It can't be." Hermione told him, "Look, this is the Hogwart's official stamp. Only Dumbledore is allowed to use it. This is real Blaise."

"It can't be…" He drifted off and shook his head.

"If he's attending Hogwarts this September, it means he is eleven. You had a child for eleven years and not know about it. And clearly, you were in Italy when you impregnate this woman." Hermione narrowed down.

"How come I don't know about it? Don't you think the mother would have at least told me she was pregnant with my child? How hard is it to send an owl?" Blaise said, his voice getting louder.

"Maybe she isn't a witch." Hermione said simply which caused Blaise to stare at her.

"What?" Blaise asked, dumbfounded.

"Look, I remember about ten years ago you said you were going to Italy. Right before you started working for Draco. I remember because he granted you that vacation if you helped me hand out our wedding invitations." Hermione recalled, "That was probably when it happened."

Blaise scratched his face and looked at her, "I think I know…" he said barely whispering.

"What?"

"I slept with a muggle when I was in Italy. We had too much to drink at this muggle club and she suggested we go back to her place. Of course, I said yes and one thing led to another." Blaise remembered, "But I do know that I've never told her that I was a wizard, or anything about the wizarding world."

"That's odd…" Hermione muttered, "It says here in the letter that he had already received confirmation…how could a muggle send confirmation to something she doesn't even know about? How did she accept this so quickly?"

"I don't know…"

"Maybe you should go to Italy and find out." Hermione pointed out and handed him the piece of paper with the address on it.

"I can't." Blaise said, "I can't just show up…I left her right before she woke up that morning. If she saw me again, she'd probably castrate me."

"We have to do something, are you even going to pick him up in Italy a week before school?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know, I mean…this could be a joke right?" Blaise asked in a hopeful voice, "I mean, if it's not a joke, it said here in the letter that there is an arrangement for him to get to Hogwarts."

"You mean you don't want to get to know your son before school?" Hermione asked softly, "You missed the first ten years of his life…maybe he can spend his eleventh year knowing that he has a dad."

Blaise groaned and put his head in his hands, this was too much for him. One day he was a free, single man. The next he was told that he was a dad, how fair was life? Not very.

"What's the most confusing part is how she sent confirmation so quickly…" Hermione trailed off.

Blaise gave her a defeated look before slowly walking out the door. Hermione quickly walked over to him and gave him a hug. He gratefully took her in his arms and rested his face on top of her head.

They stayed like that for a while.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

Between busy streets of Italy, there was a small turn off leading to a few houses. The third house was the gloomiest house in the small neighbourhood. The grass was unkempt and the trees overshadowed the lawn. The porch consisted of only one battered rocking chair and dead leaves scattered around. It was a sunny day in summer, but that house alone looked like it was stuck in fall.

The house had a pointed roof and had one single window that overlooked the front streets. Inside the window sat a boy at the age of eleven. He was sitting on his bed with two action figures in his hands. No one else was home, that wasn't new to him. He was used to being alone at the tender age of five. His mother usually would bring back at least three different guys a week. She would tell him that they were "just friends", friends that he will only see once and never again. Whenever he had asked his mother about his father, she would simply say, "He was an outright bastard." When he questioned why his last name was after his father if he was an "outright bastard", he was sent to his room without dinner. He never asked that question again.

As he was making the two action figures fight each other by smashing them together, something tapped his window. He looked up and saw an owl. He quickly let the animal in and it flew to his bed. He was contemplating weather he should keep the owl in secret in his room. He had always wanted a pet, but his mother said no. He also never had seen an owl before, not in real life that is. Italy doesn't have a lot of owls, the only owls you see were the ones in the zoo.

He then noticed two pieces of parchment stuck to the owl's leg. He cautiously walked over to the owl and reached out slowly, afraid that this wild animal would peck the daylight out of him. The owl automatically stuck out his leg and hooted at him. The boy quickly took the parchments and made a mental note that this owl was very smart and that was enough to keep it. He saw his name written neatly in cursive on one of the envelope and his mother's name on the other. He quickly ripped open the one with his name on it. He never received a letter in his life before! Especially if it was delivered by an owl! His hand trembled in excitement as he held his first letter.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

_Dear Mr. Zabini,  
__We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
__Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by 31 July._

_Your sincerely,  
__Minerva McGonagall  
__Deputy Headmistress_

_PS. If you need a way to get to Hogwarts, please inform me._

His hand trembled and read the letter again.

_Witchcraft and Wizardry? Isn't that like magic? Magic doesn't exist, only in storybooks and movies they do. _The boy thought and read the letter for the third time, _Await my owl? _He looked over at the owl, who still sat in the middle of his bed. He decided maybe his mother would know something about it.

He then heard his mother entered the front door. He then carefully listened to hear if she had brought a "friend" home today, but apparently she didn't so he ventured down the old staircase. She told him that he shouldn't come down to meet her friends ever, so if he heard that she brought back a friend, he would stay in his room. That would even mean if he misses dinner, he would have to stay in his room until her "friend" was gone. Many times he went to bed without supper because her friend would stay overnight. He found his mother sitting in the small kitchen. She looked very tired indeed, lines were starting to show on her face. There were no doubt that she once was a very beautiful woman, but after having an unwanted baby, she was aging day by day.

"Mom!" He rushed in, "Look! I got accepted into Hogwarts!" he showed her the letter. Her mother gave her a wary look and read the letter.

"There's no such school as Hogwarts." His mother told him, "And definitely no such thing as magic…or love." she added softly at the end.

"But it's real!" The boy insisted, "I even have an owl waiting in my room! Supposedly this owl is from London because that's where the school is, see?" He pointed out the London address.

"Stop it!" His mother shouted, "Stop bothering me with your imagination! I don't have time for that, I work hard to keep food on the table for us and I do not need you to bug me with your ridiculous imagination when I'm trying to relax!"

"There's a letter for you too!" he showed her the other envelope. She took it and ripped it into pieces without opening it and threw it in the garbage.

"I told you I'm not wasting my time!" His mother screamed louder now, "Go to bed! No supper for you! This should teach you not to bother me with nonsense and ridiculous stuff!"

The boy stared at her before he dashed to his room. He wanted to believe this so bad, it was his only way to a new life. Maybe a life he deserved, maybe a life where he would find out who his dad was. He was constantly told that his dad was a bad man, but deep down he always had a feeling he wasn't.

The owl was still there in his room, waiting for him. He quickly glanced behind him to see if his mother had followed him, once he didn't see her, he closed the door. He quickly ran to his desk and grabbed a pencil. Good thing his mother didn't destroy his letter. He found a piece of scrap parchment and scribbled _Yes, I will be attending this September_. _I will need transportation to get to Hogwarts as well. _He quickly tied the letter to the owl's legs and sent him off.

He wasn't sure if this was real or not, either way he had nothing to lose. He glanced out the window and watched the owl grow smaller and smaller as it flew away. He sighed and went to his bed, all he had now was hope.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N: **Hey guys! What do you think? You guys may have thought that I didn't have an actual story plot, but I do! I'm not writing whatever is coming to my head! (Hence why this story is connected to _Her Red Ribbon._)

PLEASE review =( or I'll be depress and not update…much.

So there's three different sections in this chapter, each with it's own problems. What will happen next? Review and find out! _**xoxo**_


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Hey guys, so I got a few things to clear up about Draco. Some people were wondering about Draco's behaviour, so let me clear that up.**

**- Draco, as everyone know, was known as the Slytherin Prince back at Hogwarts. Although he has matured up a bit, he still has that inner self where he still likes having girls fight over him or gives him attention. You know how guys are and I'm sure there are girls like that too. He has **_**never**_** cheated on Hermione before, ever.**

**- As for Draco not standing up for Hermione. First, lets start with Lucius. Draco does not want to make a big scene during dinner, especially in front of the kids. He knows (and everyone else for a fact) that Lucius has a **_**very**_** bad temper and who knows what he might do if Draco contradicted him in front of everyone. Draco does not want the kids to see Lucius' bad side, even though they might have heard about it (hearing and seeing is two different thing. Besides, Hermione only told them mostly about not upsetting him or draw attention to themselves). AND Draco did defend Hermione before. He managed to wipe the word "mudblood" from Lucius' mouth and we know how hard that must be. And in the study room, Draco told Lucius that he **_**loves**_** Hermione. I'm not sure about you guys, but saying that to someone who despises your wife so bad, is pretty brave. It showed that Lucius' opinion does not affect him.**

**- As for Astoria, he was her first girlfriend. At one point, Draco may have loved her. If Astoria was his first love, it's not as easy to hurt that one person who was always there for him. Yes, she is a big bitch, and maybe Draco will soon realize that if he doesn't smarten up, the relationship between him and Hermione will definitely head for the down side. We will only find out what happens between them later on in the story. **

**Okay, so I'm done my explanation (or rant if you guys want to call it). This is by far the longest A/N I've ever written. So on with the story.**

**CHAPTER SIX**

Hermione woke up and found herself wrapped up in a thick blanket. She untangled herself and looked over and saw Blaise sprawled on the small couch. She smiled at the scene and got up to go get changed. When she was ready, Blaise was already up and changed.

"Want to get breakfast?" Blaise asked.

"I think Draco's punishment is done." Hermione stretched, "I better be heading home." Blaise looked somewhat disappointed.

"Oh fine."

"Why don't you come along and tell him about your son?" she suggested. Blaise seem to grimaced at that, "Maybe he can find out more about it." He nodded reluctantly. As soon as they apparated back to the manor, Draco was standing in the foyer looking at them with a stony face.

Hermione was surprised. She sort of expected Draco to apologize over and over or at least looked happy to have her back.

"Where are the kids?" she asked tentatively. Something must have happened, and she was sure it wasn't her disappearing off on him to cause this behaviour.

"My mom took them out shopping." he replied, his voice was hard. Hermione noticed a letter gripped tightly in his hands.

"What's that?" she pointed at the letter. He looked down and tossed it at her.

"A letter." Draco sneered, "From your beloved Ron." Hermione's eyes widened and opened the letter. She hadn't talked to Ron for years, what could he have wanted? Blaise was looking over her shoulder.

_Dear Hermione,_

_I've been wondering how've you been. I wanted to let you know I am back in London. The anger management classes that I took in America was amazing. After years of those classes, I am safe to say I am a new man. Even my family is surprised at my new behaviour. How's you and Harry? I haven't had the chance to tell him I am back, but I don't think he has forgiven me yet…_

_Why don't we catch up like old times? Me and you? I'm sure you'll like the new me._

_Yours forever, Ron_

Hermione looked up from the letter at Draco, who looked mad.

"You read my letter?" she accused.

"You read mine from Astoria." He shot back. Hermione, for once in her life, speechless. True, she had read his letter, but that was different right? It was delivered to her, so it obviously meant that she had the right to read it right?

"This letter was delivered to me." Draco said as if he had read her mind.

"Why are our letters being delivered to each other." Hermione asked.

"I don't know."

"It's a spell that has been in the Malfoy family for years." Lucius' voice came from the stairs. He walked slowly towards them.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"There was a spell put on the family owls so that the letters that was written by the opposite sex will be delivered to their spouses." Lucius said slowly. All three of them gave him a blank stare, "Let me make myself more clear. If a guy writes to the wife of a Malfoy with more than friendship intentions, the letter will be delivered to the husband instead. If the letter is truly only a friendly letter, it will be delivered straight to the wife. It happens likewise too."

It made sense why Harry's letter were delivered straight to her, Harry didn't want anything romantic with Hermione.

"That's…that's invading privacy!" Hermione spluttered.

"But it also eliminate secrets from each other, secrets that might hurt one another." Lucius raised his eyebrows at her.

"I knew Ron wanted something more!" Draco sneered.

"As too Astoria!" Hermione snapped back. They glared at each other for a while until Blaise cleared his throat. Lucius on the other hand, seemed to enjoy the tension.

"Here, Giselle got her letter from Hogwarts." Draco said and handed her an other letter.

"Why haven't I got one?" she asked as she took the letter.

"We're not divorced are we?" he replied, "That's why it's only one letter." Hermione blushed at her stupid question.

"Narcissa is taking them to Diagon Alley?" she asked, "I bet she's excited. Talking about kids…" she looked over at Blaise. She then looked over at Lucius, not sure if Blaise wanted him to hear it, but he was gone.

"What?"

"Well…you see…" Blaise explained what happened last night with the letter he had received. By the end of the story, Draco's eyes widened.

"No way!" he exclaimed, "You have a child?"

"I guess I do, but I don't know it I should go pick him up…" Blaise said with a painful tone, "A part of me doesn't want to believe that this child is mine, but Dumbledore doesn't make mistakes like that."

"I'll look into it mate." Draco said, "I'll get some investors to look up on this muggle woman." His eyes travelled to Hermione, who stared back at him tiredly. Her fingers subconsciously brushed the red ribbon that was always artfully woven into her hair. The ribbon burned just as brightly as the day Draco had given it to her.

She sighed, no matter how mad she was at Draco, the ribbon would tell her otherwise. Draco caught her small movement and looked deep into her eyes. After years of marriage, they were able to look at each other and understand what their eyes read. Hermione knew Draco was deeply sorry for letting Astoria throw herself all over him. After looking at him for a few more minutes she nodded. She always ended up forgiving him.

"Mom! Mom!" Giselle's voice came from the door, "Look! My own wand!" Scorpio came in with an armful of candy.

"Oh Narcissa, you're going to give him cavities." Hermione said lightly.

"You know I can't say no to my grandkids." Narcissa smiled. Everyone stood in the foyer as they talked and laughed. What they didn't notice was Lucius standing at the top of the stairs looking down at the scene with a sorrowful look. But that look didn't last long, for hardness had taken over his eyes.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

September 1st had came too quickly. Giselle woke up before anyone else was already waiting by the fireplace as the family woke up. She pushed everyone to hurry up and she even dressed Scorpio herself.

"I don't want to miss the train!" She exclaimed as everyone crowded around the fireplace.

"You have an whole hour!" Draco yawned and grabbed a handful of floo powder. Soon, everyone else was at the train station. Giselle stared nervously at the brick barrier between platform nine and ten.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Blaise's voice came out of nowhere, "Run into that hard concrete."

"You came!" Giselle cried out and threw herself at him.

"Of course! Wouldn't miss my favourite girl's first day." Blaise chuckled and hugged her back. Hermione smiled warmly at the scene, Blaise had always been good with kids. Why he was in denial with his own child, she had no clue. She believed that Blaise would make an excellent father. Giselle took a deep breath and started to run towards the concrete barrier. Hermione knew she had ran with her eyes shut because she could tell by how she nearly missed the barrier.

"I missed the old days." Draco commented as he took in the scene at the platform. Kids were running around, parents were hauling the luggage's onto the train and bidding tearful farewells.

"Hermione!" Harry's voice came from behind. He threw his arms around her and gave her a big hug.

"Harry!" Hermione cried out, "Where's the kids?" Harry beckoned James and Lily over.

"We're just dropping Teddy off." Harry gestured to the third year boy, who gave Hermione a hug, "James has to wait until next year." James quickly went over to Giselle to chat with her. Lily ran up to Hermione and threw her a big hug around her legs. She was the same age as Scorpio, so neither of them were going to Hogwarts yet.

"Potter." Draco drawled from behind.

"Malfoy." Harry nodded curtly. Neither of the boys had put their Hogwarts years behind, but at least they don't want to hex each other into oblivion anymore. Harry's wife came to join them after she was finished talking to someone else's parents.

"Cherise!" Hermione smiled. Harry had met Cherise in France while working. She had attended Beauxbaton and now is a fashion designer.

"My dear!" she cried out and placed a kiss on both her cheeks, "Eet iz so nice to see you again!" She turned to Draco and did the same. Hermione knew that Draco may not like Harry, but he held no resentment for his beautiful wife, Cherise.

"I wonder how you fend the guys off her." Hermione joked to Harry.

"Eet iz because e iz skilled…in certain areas." Cherise winked at Harry, who was red as a tomato.

"Spare me the details." Draco pretended to throw up.

"Did you hear that Ron's back?" Harry asked, looking at Hermione. Draco stiffened at the sound of Ron's name.

"Ya, I didn't know he wrote to you." Hermione replied. She grabbed Draco's hand as if to tell him not to worry too much about it.

"He didn't. I heard Arthur Weasley talking about it at work." Harry scowled, "So damn proud to have him back." Everyone looked at each other awkwardly before Giselle came running to them and tugged Hermione and Draco's hands.

"It's leaving!"

Hermione and Draco quickly excused themselves from Harry and his wife and helped Giselle onto the train.

"Write back!" Hermione called as the train started moving.

"Don't write back if you're not in Slytherin!" Draco joked that caused Hermione to playfully poke him.

"Bye!" Giselle cried out happily and the train disappeared around the corner.

"Draco, your father and I are planning to head off to our chateau in France for a few weeks, we were wondering if we can take Scorpio." Narcissa said, coming from behind, "Maybe you two need some times alone to sort through things."

"That sounds wonderful." Hermione said. She wanted alone time with Draco to rekindle their marriage and to straighten things up.

"Great, but you're not getting rid of me that easily." Blaise joked and casually swung his arm around Hermione's shoulder. Draco shot them a look before he reached over and wrapped his arm around Hermione's waist and pulled her towards him.

"We'll have to see about that." Draco said indifferently, but there seemed to be some threat hidden in his voice. Blaise seemed to have noticed that and shrugged.

"I got a hot date tonight with a blonde." Blaise smiled, "The house is all yours tonight."

Hermione smiled warmly, "Oh, can you bring my dress back the next time you come around? I left it next to your bed."

"Sure." Blaise winked at her. Draco looked angry and without warning, he apparated him and Hermione back to the manor.

Lucius was observing the scene before him and he could tell that Blaise might have something more in mind with Hermione. He smirked as devious plans were beginning to formulate in his head.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N:** Hey guys, sorry for the chapter. I wasn't feeling too motivated these past weeks and I've been sick. But hopefully I get my motivation back. There's just a blank spot in the plot that I have to figure out.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN **- _They're back_

Hermione glanced at Draco with the corner of her eyes and sighed. The moment they had apparated abruptly back to the manor, Draco hadn't spoken to her. She honest to godric didn't know what caused him to do that. When she confronted him, he didn't reply so she just decided to wait for him to be the first to initiate the conversation. It's been almost hours and he still hadn't said a thing. They had dinner in silence, as well as coffee time. He was just sitting in his favourite armchair reading the Daily Prophet. Hermione threw down her Witch Weekly onto the coffee table, usually she doesn't bother reading those gossip magazines, but she needed something to do while she sneaked glances at Draco.

"When are you going to talk?" Hermione demanded. He glanced up from the newspaper and gave her a mild look.

"When you actually start liking Witch Weekly." Draco replied with a smirk and went back to his newspaper.

"Ugh!" Hermione stood up, frustrated. She planted her hands on her hips and looked at Draco, "What is your problem? I find it pretty rude to apparate out of nowhere, especially in front of company."

"It's just Blaise." Draco shrugged nonchalantly.

"And your parents! And Scorpio!" Hermione said in shrilled voice.

"Look, I don't need you to flirt with Blaise in front of my face." Draco said, finally looking at her. Hermione's mouth hung opened.

"Wh-what? That's-that's stupid!" Hermione spluttered, "I was _so_ not flirting with Blaise!"

"You might not be intentionally, but I know Blaise." Draco flipped his newspaper in half, "I saw the way he looked at you and how he talked to you. I've been to bars with Blaise and I've seen how he talked to girls he who he wanted to bed! And that was how he was talking to you! He has his smooth way of making it seem like he's not even flirting at all."

"That's ridiculous!" Hermione exclaimed, "Blaise is an old friend, he's not like that. Maybe he's use to his flirty ways of talking, and I'm sure he has no intention behind anything! And when did you go to bars?"

"That's not the _point _Hermione!" Draco pinched his nose bridge and closed his eyes, frustrated, "I know Blaise. You may play the naïve card, but I don't play that. And to _ease _your mind, I went to the bar a few times after work with Blaise. Don't worry, I didn't _flirt_ with any girls."

"Ease my-? Draco -ugh! You're impossible!" Hermione threw her hands up in the air. She whipped out her wand and conjured up a cloak, "I'm going out for a walk to clear my mind."

Draco just flipped open his newspaper and said, "Alright, patronus if you need anything." Hermione just threw him a scathing look before she disappeared through the door.

Hermione decided to apparate to Hogsmeade, maybe a drink or two will do her good at Hogshead. She tightened the cloak around her neck as the wind blew at her. As she was walking down the path towards Hogshead, she had a feeling someone was following her. She spun around just to find a few drunks, who staggered around the village shouting at nothing in particular.

_Maybe I should go to the new pub…_ Hermione thought. There was a new pub that opened up and it was classier than Hogshead. All the younger crowd would go there, and Blaise would spend most of his time there, aside from the Malfoy Manor, to pick up the younger ladies.

_A mother of two at the pub where all the young crowds go to?_ a voice in her head came up.

_I'm twenty-seven! That's hardly old!_ she retorted in her head. She shook away the voice in her head and headed towards the new pub, Moxy.

She took off her cloak as she entered the pub and was impressed with interior décor. It was totally not like Hogshead at all. Instead having old, beat down tables scattered everywhere, with dusty mugs, Moxy's lighting was dimmed with a small dance floor in the middle. There were nice, polished barstools that framed the area with smaller tables in the middle. It's no wonder why the younger people like going there. Apparently, they even serve muggle alcoholic drinks, unlike Hogshead.

Hermione found herself a seat at the bar at the far side. The very cute bartender gave her an amused look and raised his eyebrows.

"I'm twenty-seven! That's hardly old." Hermione snapped at him. He then gave her an odd look before putting away the crystal clear cups.

"How can I help you." the bartender came back after he made someone else's drink.

"Martini please, dry." Hermione ordered, "And I only want one olive in it please."

"One olive it is." The bartender repeated. As he made the drink, he kept giving her curious looks.

"I'm sorry, is martini an old person's drink?" Hermione asked, clearly irritated, "Well enlightened me with a drink where all you young people order. Sunrise tequila? Screwdriver? I'm twenty-seven and back in the muggle world, that is not considered old you know!" The bartender seemed to be stunned at her outburst.

"Don't kill the bartender there, Granger." A girl's voice came from behind. Hermione whipped around and saw Pansy, who stood there in a tight, black dress with a touch of green.

"Parkinson." Hermione acknowledged with a nod of her head. Pansy slipped onto the barstool next to Hermione, "It's actually Malfoy now."

"You're always going to be a Granger to me." Pansy gave a light laugh and turned to a bartender, "I'll have a sour whiskey please."

"Muggle drinks? Really Parkinson?" Hermione taunted as she received her drink.

"Looks like they have good uses too." Pansy retorted back. Hermione was about to say something witty when the bartender came up to them.

"Excuse me." he said in a Italian accent, "I heard you're a Malfoy? As in wife of Draco Malfoy?" Hermione raised his eyebrows at him.

"Did you finally figure out that twenty-seven isn't old?" Hermione replied back haughtily.

"Give the poor man a break." Pansy rolled her eyes. She turned back to him, "Yes Stefano, Draco unfortunately married this woman." Clearly, Pansy came here enough times to know the bartender by his first name.

"I've heard a lot about the Malfoy Enterprise." Stefano offered a smile, "My family back in Italy has a company and was thinking of doing business with Malfoy Enterprise."

"Well, you would have to talk to Draco about that." Hermione told him and whipped out Draco's business card she happened to carry around, "What is this company of your family called?"

"Lombardi Cooperation." the bartender pocketed the business card, "Most of my family is in Italy, I am the only one here."

"Are you the only heir to take after the company?" Hermione asked, as she made mental notes in her head in case Draco didn't ask the insignificant questions that might be useful in the future.

"Well, I guess in a sense I am." Stefano replied, looking a bit doubtful, "I have a sister but she was disowned because she dropped out of school, slept around with many guys and god know where she is now. Probably married some scum and moved to France or something."

"Well aware of your family problems darling." Pansy said and downed half her drink, "Found yourself a girlfriend yet?" Stefano blushed and said no. He hurried over to a customer who was ready to make an order.

"You got to stop putting in him situations like that." Hermione reprimanded as she sipped her drink.

"Oh, and you yelling at him like a drunk woman about your age is so not awkward." Pansy rolled her eyes and downed the rest of her drink, "Besides, got to know if he's still single or not. He's so good in bed."

"Oh and when do you care if a man's single or not before you make your move?" Hermione smirked. Pansy's eyes darkened at her before she leaned back.

"I've changed." Pansy replied, "You know Astoria's formulating a plan to steal Draco away from you right? All she needs is one night to bed Draco, and your relationship is done for."

"Why are you telling me this?" Hermione demanded as she gripped her drink tightly, "Aren't you doing the same?"

"I'm passed that." Pansy waved her hands at the idea, "I've moved on." She looked over at Stefano and winked, which caused him to blush slightly.

"Why are you telling me this?" Hermione repeated.

"Because, Draco isn't the only one who she has an eye for." Pansy replied darkly, "You see, Stefano and I have been seeing each other on and off. When Astoria found out, she started showing up here more often. And when she found out that he was an heir to a pretty big company, she tried to sink her claws into him as well. Fortunately, she didn't know when we're off and when we're on. Every time she made a move, we were always on. Stefano is no cheater, he politely refuses her. I'm afraid that one day, she will get to him when we're off…"

Hermione glanced at Pansy, and saw that she was actually sincere. She even felt bad for Pansy, the girl who made her life hell for the past seventeen years.

"Well, why are you guys always off and on?" Hermione asked. She guessed they were off at the moment.

"You know me Granger." Pansy shrugged, "I'm twenty-seven. I wanted to get married and have kids by this age, but clearly I don't. Stefano doesn't seem to want to get married yet and said there's no rush. There is a rush! I want to hold gracious parties and be admired. It's not fair that you and Draco are married for ten years with two kids when I have none! Not even a husband!" Pansy sighed and beckoned another bartender over and ordered two shots of tequila and two screwdriver.

"I haven't finished mine yet." Hermione pointed out.

"Finish it." Pansy rolled her eyes, "Live a little Hermione. You're so uptight."

"I am not uptight." Hermione defended, a bit hurt by the statement, "I just have lots of responsibilities."

"Like what? You don't even help Draco with his company." Pansy threw a few coins onto the counter, "You only look over his accounts. Jennifer, his receptionist is the one doing all the organizing and all that."

"Wait, what?" Hermione paused, "She's just a receptionist! She couldn't possibly be the one who organizes his work! She just answer phones and book appointments! And how do you know about her?"

"Who doesn't know about Jennifer? She's the biggest receptionist whore out there. She's known to have secret affairs with the boss and does the dirtiest deeds ever." Pansy gave a small laugh, "She sucks off all her boss in their office whenever they want her to. Don't worry, Blaise told me he keeps an eye on them and Draco doesn't do anything. But, she is trying to make moves on him making it look like "accidents". Draco doesn't notice, in fact, he doesn't even give her a second look. You got yourself a good husband there Hermione…" Pansy sighed and pushed the tequila towards Hermione.

"I can't believe all these whores throw themselves at him!" Hermione gripped her martini tightly. She downed her martini and her tequila right after. Pansy raised her eyebrows at her and pushed one glass of screwdriver towards her.

"Can you blame him? He's good looking and rich." Pansy said, which earned a glare from Hermione, "Don't worry, I've moved on to better things." and she looked at Stefano, who gave her small smile.

"I hope things work out for you two." Hermione said and stood up.

"You know, maybe you should think more about your appearance." Pansy said suddenly and looked at her.

"What is wrong with me?" Hermione demanded. She didn't find anything wrong with what she wore. Sure, she doesn't really wear make up and her hair is a mess. Yeah, she wears sweats and loose jeans a lot but she thought that doesn't matter! She wore nice clothes to parties and tried to tame her hair.

"You're married to a Malfoy." Pansy spun around on her seat to face her, "If you look the part, girls will be more intimidated by you. I don't want to break this to you, but I've heard girls saying you're not a threat. You're just there to carry on the lines of Malfoy, you know, have his children. If you look like a Malfoy, and hold yourself as one, you will earn respect from other women who find you intimidating. Therefore, there will be girls who will have second thoughts before making a move on Draco. You're a Malfoy, you know all the connections you guys have."

Hermione stood rooted at her spot, the drinks slightly hitting her. Was what Pansy said true? Will girls be more intimidated by her she acted more like a Malfoy? She thought about Narcissa, the way she held herself. Every women respected her and even looked up to her. Hermione had seen admiral looks in these women's eyes at their parties. Did she want to be like that? Yes, yes she did.

"Thanks for the drinks." Hermione nodded at the empty glasses, "But you can have my screwdriver." Pansy swayed a bit, downed her own screwdriver before she grabbed Hermione's and sipped it. She stood up and looked at her.

"If I were you, I'd find a way to let Astoria know that Jennifer is interested in Draco." Pansy gave a small hiccup, "She may be out to steal Draco, but she knows how to eliminate competition. Use it to your advantage." Pansy left Hermione in her own thoughts. Who knew Pansy Parkinson would give her useful advice? Hermione realized she hadn't paid for her martini yet, so she took out a few coins and placed it on the counter. Just as she was about to leave, Stefano grabbed her hand.

"I'm thirty, so I don't think twenty-seven is old." Stefano smiled. For once in the night, Hermione laughed, "I'll give Draco's card to my family." Hermione nodded and bid goodnight. Stefano gave a curt nod before sending her a heart throbbing smile. She turned away quickly before he could see her blush. No wonder Pansy fell hard for him! He was very charming, and that smile! Wow, that smile. Hermione shook her head and pictured Draco smiling at her. Yes, that's where she wanted to be right now, in her husband's loving arms. She wrapped her cloak around her and headed out the pub.

She swayed a bit at the doorstep and giggled at herself for her silliness. Maybe drinking once in a while isn't so bad. She ventured to an area where apparation was permitted. She saw a big, dark silhouette walking towards her. She gripped her wand inside her pocket tightly as the dark figure stopped in front of her. She looked up at him and gasped in recognition. Before she could do anything, she was out cold.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

Draco glanced at the clock. Where could she be? He had read the newspaper five times already, and Hermione wasn't home. He stood up and floo'd to Blaise's house. Hermione would definitely go to Blaise, after all, he's the best at comforting girls. Draco gagged at the thought and walked out of Blaise's fireplace.

"Blaise!" Draco called out, but no one answered. He searched around the apartment, but apparently Blaise was not home. Draco debated whether he should go to Potter's house. Sure, he had been there a few times, but that was only because Hermione had forced him. It was almost midnight, she had never returned home that late before. In fact, she barely went out.

Draco started to panic and floo'd to Harry's house. He found him and his wife, cuddled on a couch in front of this muggle contraption called "television".

"Potter."

Draco saw Harry jumped up and he silently smirked at this.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" Harry asked, clearly embarrassed.

"Is Hermione here?" Draco asked quickly. Harry immediately jumped onto his feet,

"She's missing?" Harry had fear in his eyes, "Where did she go?"

"If I had known where she is, I wouldn't asked you would I?" Draco rolled his eyes, "She said she went for a walk about 8 o'clock, but she never came back."

"Did she tell you where she iz going?" Cherise asked while she clutched the blanket.

"No, she didn't…we kind of had an argument so she left quickly." Draco said softly.

"Okay, I'll alert the Order. If in thirty minutes no one can find her, I'll get a search out." Harry quickly grabbed his cloak.

"Thank you." Draco nodded in appreciation before flooing back to his manor. Right when he had stepped out of the fireplace, he saw Blaise standing right in front of him.

"They've taken her." Blaise gasped, clearly he was out of breath, "The Death Eaters have taken Hermione."

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N:** Alright guys, some of my motivation came back. I think this is a better chapter than the previous one, no? So please review! **xoxo **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Sorry for the wait, I'll explain at the end of the chapter. Oh, and I decided to change it to present tense. Sorry for the confusion, when I finished the chapter I realized I wrote it all in present tense. Plus, I found it a bit easier to write in present tense, English isn't exactly my major so forgive me. Thanks.

**CHAPTER EIGHT** -_ Revenge_

Draco paces around the living room impatiently as he glances at the fireplace every few seconds or so. Blaise has sent owls to some people to notify them that Hermione is missing. There was a _pop__**!**_and Lucius smoothes down his robes.

"What is this emergency that you said was important?" Lucius asks, clearly not impress that he was pulled out of his vacation.

"She's gone. They've taken her." Draco said as he grips onto his wand tightly.

"She? They?" Lucius raises his eyebrows.

"Hermione! Your people has taken them!" Draco's voice echoed throughout the room, "Your-your _Death Eaters_ that were released with you!"

"Are you implying that I have something to do with this?" Lucius asks with an amuse expression. Draco growls and lunges at Lucius grabbing the collars of his robes and pushes him against the wall.

"I'm not joking." Draco growls, "Don't take this lightly, if you know anything about this, or know her whereabouts, you tell me _now_." Lucius glares at his son for a minute before he pushes him off and straightens his robes.

"I know nothing of this!" Lucius spits out, "Don't go around accusing before you know anything or have any evidence. It might not even be a Death Eater."

"I saw him." Blaise speaks up.

"How so?"

"I had a date, and when we walked out of our restaurant, we saw Hermione stumbling out of Moxy-" but Blaise was interrupted.

"She was at Moxy?" Draco asks in an incredulous tone, "And she was _drunk_?"

"I would say tipsy." Blaise shoots him a dirty look for interrupting, "Anyways, this figure went up to her and knocked her out. Right before he apparated, he saw me and grinned."

"Who was it?"

"Nott Sr." Blaise concludes, leaving Lucius' face pale.

"Do you know something?" Draco asks.

"He asked me if the Death Eater's who were released can use the manor again as a headquarter. I told them I am done with being a Death Eater and he wasn't too pleased. He called me a traitor, but I did remind him that Voldemort was dead for good." Lucius explains, "But he felt that we need to avenge for Voldemort. Maybe Hermione was their first choice because she married a Malfoy."

Both Draco and Blaise stares at him, "Do you know where she is?"

"I think they might have her hostage at Theodore Nott's house." Lucius ponders, "But since they want revenge…I don't know if she's being held hostage or…" he trails off.

"No!" Draco cries out, "Just give me the names of the Death Eaters that were released with you. Blaise, go alert Harry and the Order about where Hermione is. Hurry, maybe we still have time!"

"Don't tell Scorpio or Giselle…okay?" Draco said to Lucius, who nods. Draco gives Lucius one last look before he sweeps out of the room.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

Hermione wakes up groggily. She lifts her hands to her head, but realizes that it was tied against the wall. She tries the other hand, and that too was tied against the wall. She quickly lifts her head to scan the room. It is dimly lit and from what she can make out, she is in a basement. She can even hear voices upstairs arguing.

"I don't want her here! Take your business elsewhere." A familiar male voice demands angrily, "You will not put our family in jeopardy ever again!"

"Theo, listen," Another male voice speaks, "She married a Malfoy, she's a mud blood. Lucius is a traitor so she must be the first to go."

"Father, as much as I like to believe in purebloods, it seize to exist much anymore. I accept half bloods now, and you need to get over your delusion. Voldemort is dead, no one will be there to reward your insane idea of murdering all mudbloods and muggles." Theodore said angrily.

Hermione's mind is processing all the information._ Theodore Nott? And…Nott Sr.? She knew the Death Eater looks familiar! She helped put Nott Sr. in Azkaban!_

The basement door bangs open and Nott Sr. comes in loudly into the room. He stands in front of Hermione, sneering at her. Azkaban did not do him good one bit, he is sickly thin and his eyes was gaunt, shadowing his dark eye-bags that was underneath hallow eyes.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" Nott Sr. laughs darkly.

"It's not like you don't know." Hermione answers bitterly, "You're the one who brought me here." Nott Sr. raises his eyebrows.

"Such courage, especially in time of death." he mutters, but then slaps her across the face throwing her whole body to the left side, but her chained hands held her in place. Hermione whips her head back and spits right onto his face. His eyes widens as he whips out his wand, "_Cru-"_

"Stop!" Theodore Nott's voice came from the doorway, "There will be _no_ such spells to be cast in this household. Don't make me send you back to Azkaban." Hermione, who's head was still spinning from the blow, glances at Theodore gratefully.

"You are a blood traitor!" Nott Sr. sneers, "Like everyone else! I am the only true follower of the Dark Lord! I was the only one who can be called his most loyal follower! I will the one to avenge for him! The Dark Lord lives within me!" he raves like a madman. Theodore's wife appears by his side with wide eyes.

"_Alohomora" _Theodore waves his wand at Hermione's locks. Hermione rubs her wrists and looks at Nott Sr., who looks furious. He lunges at her and threw punches left and right at her. Hermione heard a lot of noises upstairs and Theodore screaming a spell, but anything after that, she didn't know because she had passed out from the blows.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

Hermione hears hush voices around her, but she keeps her eyes shut.

"Be quiet! You'll wake her up!" Harry shushes at someone, "I don't even know why you're here."

"I'm here because she's my wife." Ron's voice is heard. _What? Ron? Why is Ron _

_here?_

"Get over it! She 'as moved on like ten yearz ago!" Fleur scoffs.

"Yes, and she 'as kids with Draco." Cherise chimes in. Is Hermione really hearing all this correctly? Is Draco even here? Or was he still mad at her? If he is here, why would he let Ron say such things? His wife, please!

Hermione opens her eyes slowly and let her eyes adjust to the light. No one had notice that she is awake, so she quickly takes in the scenery before her. Draco sat on her right side with her hand firmly in his hands and shooting Ron death glares. Fleur is next to Draco and also giving Ron dirty looks. Harry and Cherise was on her left muttering to each other.

"Wazzit ere?" Hermione mumbles. Everyone stops talking and focuses on her.

"What is it sweetheart?" Draco asks gently and smoothes the hair from her forehead. Hermione groans for a bit, trying to calm down. Last thing she need is to see Ron. She takes a deep and looks at Ron.

"What. Is. HE. Doing. HERE?" Hermione bellows out. Everyone flinches, but not as much as Ron did.

"I just wanted to see how you were." Ron explains, "When I heard you were captured-"

"How did you know?" Hermione interjects.

"Umm…when I owled the Order about your disappearance, Arthur Weasley told Ron." Harry said softly.

"Obviously, no one needed him there." Draco said snidely. Ron looks at everyone else, who apparently shares the same feelings as Draco.

"Okay, fine. I get it, no one wants me here." Ron said calmly. Hermione was surprise that he is able to control his anger that well. Guess that anger management class in north America actually works, "Just remember that I was one of the people who helped rescued you."

"Actually, Theodore is the one to thank, he already stunned his father by the time we got there." Blaise walks into the room, "Hermione sweetheart, you're awake." He walks over and gave her other hand a light squeeze.

"I'm doing much better." Hermione mutters, still glaring at Ron, "Mind if I get some privacy with Draco?" Everyone dissipate the room, leaving her and Draco.

"How you feeling?" he asks, planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Does the kids know?" Hermione asks, ignoring his question, "What happened to Nott Sr.?"

"My father agreed to not tell the kids. He is at the small trial that is being held for Nott Sr." Draco explains to her. Just as he finishes talking, the door swings open and Lucius walks in.

"He is sentence to five years in Azkaban and is admitted to an asylum." Lucius informs them, "He's still believes that Voldemort still exists in his head and is telling him to do all these things. They are now testing everyone that was released with him. I was exempt because I had refused to lend him our house and testified against him." Lucius looks over at Hermione. For a moment, they just stare at each other. For a second, Hermione was sure that his eyes has soften, but it was quickly replace by his usual hardness.

"Thank you." Hermione whispers softly.

"Not a problem." Lucius replies, and pauses for a bit, "for my daughter-in-law." and with that, he sweeps out of the room. Hermione's jaws drops open.

"I think that's the closest thing to a compliment." Hermione jokes. Draco smiled and pulled out a letter.

"This is from Giselle, I haven't opened it yet." Draco hands her the letter, "Go on, read it." Hermione smiles and rips open the letter.

_Hi Mom and Dad!_

_Well, sorry it took me a while to send you a letter. I was too excited about everything to write! I promise I won't do that again. _

_I've been sorted into Slytherin! Daddy must be so proud of me. I made a friend too on the very first day! His name is Robbie. Some people in our house aren't very nice to us though. They called us names and said we tricked the sorting hat into putting us into Slytherin. Apparently we aren't pureblood so we're not suppose to be in Slytherin…I wonder why we were put there then? Was there a mistake? And one person called daddy a bad name, they said he's a "blood traitor", what do they mean? But one boy name Andrew Nott stood up for us telling them to "fuck off" (don't get mad at me! He was the one who said that bad word!) and he also said a bunch of stuff about their parents that made them shut up. They sort of leave us alone now, but still gives us dirty looks. So technically, I made 2 friends. The girls are in Slytherin are very superficial and stuck up, but they talk to me sometimes. _

_I'll write to you soon! _

_Love, Giselle._

"Some parents need to get over their pureblood status!" Hermione sighs, "At least Theodore Nott taught his kids well, I really need to thank him."

"Come on, let's pack your stuff and get out of here." Draco picks up her small essential bag, "By the way, the nurses said they found your wand in your underwear." Hermione blushes profusely and mutters something.

"I like to know myself how it got there." Blaise smiles from the doorway. Hermione glares at the guys before sighing.

"I don't know, I was drunk that night and I guess I thought it was my pocket so I just shoved it in." Hermione blushes again at the memory.

"Shoved it in huh?" Blaise jokes.

"Ew, you're gross." Hermione throws her pillow at Blaise. Draco laughs and helps Hermione out of her bed. All three of them makes their way out of St. Mungos.

"Did you hear anything about your son?" Draco asks Blaise.

"No." Blaise seems to want to avoid the topic, "I'll get onto that soon." But for some reason, Draco and Hermione doesn't believe it.

**A/N:** Sorry guys for the long update. I was really busy with work and some drunk idiot crashed into my car demolishing the left side causing all these icbc (Canadian insurance company) problems and I have to get a rental car and find out the damage of my car. It was all very problematic. I will update two chapters instead to make up for it. Again, sorry for the wait. Appreciate reviews **xoxo**.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE **_- First encounter_

"I'm not doing your homework!" Giselle sighs, "You won't learn anything if I do it."

"Please!" Robbie begs, "If you do it, we will have more time to do whatever you want! If I do it, I'll never finish it until very late and we won't have time to do what you want."

Andrew walks into the common room to find Robbie begging Giselle to do his homework.

"She's right you know." Andrew comments, "I've just finished mine." he pulls out a long piece of parchment to show them. Giselle smiles at him admiringly.

"See! Not all boys don't do their homework like you said." she points out.

"Suck up." Robbie mutters before dipping his quill into the ink bottle violently. Giselle gives Andrew a high five, which seems to annoy Robbie even more.

"We'll stay here with you while you do it, how's that?" Giselle pats his hands.

"Yeah, yeah I like that." Robbie smiles at the idea of not being alone.

"Here, let's play exploding snaps then." Andrew whips out the cards. Thirty minutes into playing, Robbie threw down his quill.

"I can't even write with this damn thing!" he points at the offending quill, "I want to use a pen."

"Pen? What's that?" Andrew asks, "Sounds dangerous."

"It's what muggles uses to write. It's much easier and doesn't have ink blots and stuff." Robbie explains.

"You'll get use to it." Giselle rolls her eyes, "Besides, all homework are done in quills. Asking for a pen is like asking to write your essay on a computer. So suck it up." Robbie sticks his tongue out at her.

"What's a computer?" Andrew asks, sounding even more curious.

"Muggle technology." Giselle explains.

"The more you hang out with them the more you're going to be like them." a dark-hair boy sneers. Behind him was two burly looking twins, "They're filling your head with muggle nonsense."

"Ya, purebloods like you don't associate themselves with these half bloods." One of the burly twin scoffs, "How much did your daddy have to pay to have you in Slytherin?" he indicate his question towards Giselle and Robbie.

"From what I heard, your dad is as stupid as a cow." Giselle glares at the twins, "And that your dad follows my dad around like a lost puppy licking up his shit."

"Oh, Malfoy got a potty mouth." the dark-hair boy sneers, the twins however just glowers at what Giselle has said. Goyle has never mention how pathetic he was back in Hogwarts to his twins, but word gets around and eventually they find out.

"I'll have worse than a potty mouth if you don't get the fuck out!" Giselle stands up, gripping her wand tightly, "And from what I've heard, your uncle _Thorfinn Rowle_ is being tested to see if he's crazy!"

The dark-hair boy has gone pale as Giselle slaps the Daily Prophet onto the table. Sure enough, on the front cover is the "ex" Death Eaters being questioned and tested after the incident with Nott. Sr. The Prophet didn't mention who got attack, but it mention that it was a woman who went to Hogwarts.

"It's all your grandfathers fault!" Jake Rowle blames, pointing his finger at Andrew.

"He is no longer part of our family." Andrew replies rather calmly. Jake grips the Prophet right before pointing his wand at it.

"_Diffindo!"_ Jake said and the newspaper explodes into rip pieces. Giselle can't help but admire how he knows advance spells for a first year, even though he's a thick-headed loser in her books. But she quickly puts on a sneer on her face, but Jake already saw her previous expression, "Like that Malfoy? Maybe if you behave, I'll show you something you'll like even more."

"Ew, that's digusting." Giselle makes a disgusts face, "And I can easily do something like that!" Of course she has taken after her mother's talent and brains. She has read all her first year books, second year and starting on the third year. Good thing her mother keeps all her old school books.

"Whatever you say Malfoy." Jake shrugs, glaring at her with tense eyes. His dark, mysterious eyes narrows, "Just watch who you mingle with." he adds to Andrew who didn't even bother looking at him. After they were gone, Robbie let out a sigh of relief.

"Those guys really annoy me." Robbie said, picking up his quill and continuing his essay.

"At least we won't have to see them during the Christmas break, which is in a few days!" Andrew smiles excitedly, "Are you guys going home?"

"Definitely!" Giselle smiles, "You?" she indicates towards Robbie.

"Well, my mom didn't handle me being a wizard too well when Professor Dumbledore came over. He gave her a choice…whether she wants to remember me or not." Robbie whispers, "She chose not to. Now she doesn't remember having a son."

"Oh.." Giselle didn't know what to say, "What about your dad?"

"I've never met him." Robbie explains, "My mom made sure I didn't. All I know is that his last name is Zabini." Giselle freezes.

"Zabini?" Giselle echoes, "My parents have a best friend name Blaise Zabini." Now it was Robbie's turn to freeze.

"What?" he asks slowly, "Do you think?"

"Well, we don't know any other Zabini, plus it's your father who's a wizard!" Giselle said excitedly, "Why don't you come over for Christmas! He's always with us."

"Do you think he would want to see me?" Robbie frets.

"I'm sure he does, he's such a nice guy!" Giselle smiles, "I'll write to my mom."

"Yeah, that sounds good." Robbie smiles. The mood lifts up a bit as he continues to write his essay, he was going to meet his father!

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

Hermione's mood is lifting because Christmas is just around the corner. She is putting decorations up alone because Draco has to stay in the office to do deal with one client. Narcissa believes putting up decorations is the job of house elves, so she refuses to touch even a tinsel. But however, she occasionally will show up and chat with Hermione while watching her decorate, mostly about the upcoming Christmas dinner party of course.

"Yes Narcissa, I know I know." Is all Hermione can say to Narcissa while she is babbling on about the invite list.

"I'm thinking of adding the Notts onto the list of course after what happened." Narcissa said. Hermione nods, it is a good chance to make friends with that family, "Are you listening to me?" Narcissa's voice snaps her out of her thoughts.

"Of course Narcissa." Hermione rolls her eyes, "Why don't you get the invitations started?"

"Excellent idea." and with that, she sweeps out of the room with Scorpio trailing after her. He seems to take extreme liking for his grandmother.

"After ten years you think she'll loosen up a bit huh?" Blaise laughs and sits down.

"I don't think there's any word but 'uptight' and 'perfection' in her dictionary." Hermione jokes, "I hope you're here to help me."

"Well…" Blaise trails off after he sees the look Hermione gives him, "Okay, okay, I'll help." They spent the next few hours decorating the _whole_ mansion.

"Okay, now we have to put the tinsel sash on the ceilings." Hermione points out, "I'll conjure up a ladder and you stay at the bottom to make sure I don't fall, or I'll kill you." Blaise chuckles and steadies the ladder as Hermione climbs up.

"I can see up your skirt, nice panties." Blaise winks. Hermione gasps and looks down at him.

"How dare you!" Hermione glares at him, but then realises that she is wearing pants. Blaise laughs even louder at her realization causing her to throw a tinsel ball down at him. It bounces off his head and crack when it hit the floor, "You're going to have to clean that up before Narcissa sees that." Blaise rolls his eyes and lets go of the ladder so he can pick it up.

"No! not now!" Hermione cries out. Just as she was reaching to her left side to hang up an orb, Blaise has let go of the ladder causing the ladder to tilt over. Blaise's face looks horrified as everything seem to be going slow motion.

"Hermione!" Blaise lunges forward with seconds to spare before Hermione hit the ground. Blaise topples over with Hermione on top, "Are you okay?" Hermione opens her eyes and realizes that she was just inches away from Blaise's handsome face. Neither of them answer, they just stare into each others eyes. Blaise reaches up and places his hands on her face gently.

"Mommy are you okay?" Scorpio comes screaming into the room with tears streaming down his face. Apparently he has seen her fall down the ladder. Hermione snaps out of her trance and pushes herself away from Blaise.

"Thanks." she mutters and envelopes crying Scorpio into her arms, "Shh, mommy's okay darling. Blaise rescued me just in time." Scorpio's sobs slows down a bit until he is just sniffling.

"What happened?" Draco's voice came from the doorway.

"I just fell from the ladder while decorating." Hermione explains.

"I told you not to do anything like that! You're not fully recovered yet." Draco lectures.

"It's been months Draco." Hermione sighs, "I'm perfectly normal now. Besides it's not like I hit the floor, Blaise helped me."

"Ya, I used my masculinity." Blaise jokes, trying to lighten up the mood.

"There's not such thing as _masculinity_ in your vocabulary." Draco jokes back, clearly relieve that Hermione isn't hurt, "More like _femininity._" Blaise threw the crack tinsel ball at Draco who ducks just in time.

"You guys just ruined my decorating mood." Hermione huffs, "I'm going to put the rest up by magic now."

"Shouldn't you be doing that the first place?" Draco rolls his eyes, "Sometimes I think you forget you're a witch."

"Sometimes things are more fun if you do it by hand." Hermione counters.

"I can think of something you can do better by hand." Draco winks.

"Oh be quiet." Hermione shushes. She would have use a more violent word, but Scorpio was in the room. She flicks her wand and everything went to decorate by itself, "How's work?"

"The client wants so much." Draco rolls his eyes.

"Who? Melorn Tellsmith?" Blaise said knowingly, "Ya, he's such a pain." Business then became a topic. Hermione finishes up the decorating and cleans up the place.

"Are you coming to pick Giselle up with us Blaise?" Hermione asks him as she picks up Scorpio.

"Yeah, it's not like I have anything better to do." Blaise stretches. An owl swoops into the room and drops a letter on Hermione's hands.

"It's from Giselle!" Hermione smiles and read the letter. Her forehead furrows a bit before she looks at Blaise, "So how's the son thing looking?" she asks.

"I don't know, I haven't really contacted Dumbledore about it yet." Blaise shrugs.

"Don't you care about your son?" Hermione asks, getting a bit angry.

"Of course I do, I just don't know what to say or do when I see him you know?" Blaise ruffles his hair, "What if he doesn't like me? What if his mother filled his head with evil things about me? I don't think I can handle my son hating me."

"Well, I hope you will get use to it." Hermione thrusts the letter forward, "Because he's spending Christmas with us."

Blaise grabs the letter and scans it with Draco reading over his shoulder.

"His name is Robbie?" Blaise whispers, "His mother chose to not remember him?" Draco and Hermione gives him a sympathetic look.

"Mate, maybe all this is too much for her to handle." Draco explains, "Maybe forgetting is the best way."

"What a _bitch_!" Blaise exclaims angrily, "How can a mother just _choose_ to forget about her son!"

"So are you going to put in effort to know your son?" Hermione asks softly, "You're all he has." Blaise's hands has gone white.

"I'm not ready…" his hands is shaking slightly.

"We'll be here for you mate." Draco pats his back. Blaise glances out the window and stares into the garden_. He should be excited right? It's his son! Of course he should! But why isn't he feeling excited? This is a normal feeling right? Right?_ Draco and Hermione smiles at the thought of the upcoming reunion, but little did they know Blaise is having an internal battle.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N:** There you go, two chapters! Just to clear things up if anyone is confused: Dumbledore went over to explain the situation to both Robbie and his mom (much like how he went to visit Tom Riddle to explain). Robbie's mother didn't want to handle all this and finally, Dumbledore offered her a choice. She chose to forget about her son and everything about magic and Hogwarts. Please read and review!


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N:** Hi guys, I just wanted to clear some things up. A lot of people were wondering why Blaise is taking the whole son situation difficultly. Well, for those who didn't pick up already, Blaise is a care-free, womanizer/player and bachelor kind of guy. And for him to find out that he has a kid thrown out at him changes his whole life. He won't be able to do what he usually does anymore and actually have to take care of someone else other than himself.

A few people also mentioned about Giselle-actions. I was already thinking about writing a trilogy. The third story will most likely be about Giselle, but at this point of the story I can't write too much of a love story about her because of her age. I don't want to get too icky since they are only 11 years old and you can only write so much without crossing the line for the age of 11.

And finally, a lot of people thought that the story would be a lot better in past tense. I started off in the past tense, but for the last two chapters (chapters 8 and 9) I switched to present tense. **SO** for the final time in this story I will switch one last time and it will be switched to past tense. Sorry for the confusion.

**CHAPTER TEN**

Hermione watched Blaise carefully as he shifted his eyes from side to side. He then paced back and forth, wringing his hands. She sighed and looked at the clock, the Hogwarts Express is going to be here any minute now and Blaise looked like he was about to pass out. Draco, on the other hand was carrying Scorpio with a smile plastered onto his face. Giselle was going to come home and boy was he excited.

"Maybe you should calm down a bit." Hermione said softly to Blaise. Blaise stopped, turned around and grabbed Hermione by both her shoulders.

"Calm down? I'm about to meet my son that I haven't even met for the past eleven years!" He shook Hermione a bit too violently for her liking. Draco turned to them and frowned, "What if he hates me? What if I can't adjust to my new life? He already has a shitty mother, what if he has a shitty father too? Me!"

Hermione gently removed herself from his uncomfortable grip and stepped back.

"Stop it, you will only be a horrible dad if you think you are." Hermione said firmly, "Now is your chance to prove that you are a good dad." she nodded towards the arriving train. Blaise whipped around and his eyes widened.

"Oh no…" He whispered. Hermione placed her hands gently onto his shoulder, which seemed to relaxed him a bit.

"You'll do fine sweetie." Hermione encouraged.

Kids were filing out of the train and ran to their awaiting families. Hermione spotted Giselle's long, honey brown hair. She was with two boys. When Giselle rushed over to her and Draco, she had a big smile on her face.

"Hi mom! Dad!" Giselle kissed them both, "This is Andrew, he's the one I told you that was very smart." Andrew gave them a smile before craning his neck to look for his parents.

"There you are sweetheart." A woman's voice came from the back. Hermione turned around to see Mr. and Mrs. Nott walking towards them.

"This is your son?" Hermione asked, remembering how this young boy had defended Giselle against those bullies.

"The one and only." Mrs. Nott smiled, "We better get going though, we have lunch with his grandma today. See you at the Christmas party."

"Hey! I'll be seeing you at our Christmas party!" Giselle exclaimed excitedly to Andrew.

"I'll try to remember your present." Andrew teased, "It's the whole volume of _Witches and Warlocks_ right?" When the family left, everyone turned to Giselle and her other friend.

"This is Robbie, Robbie Zabini." Giselle announced. Hermione studied the boy's dark curly hair and soulful eyes. His facial structure were defined and his olive shade skin tone was flawless. Yes, this handsome young boy was definitely Blaise's son, "He told me he had nowhere to go for the Christmas break and…and that he didn't know his dad and I thought…well….you know….Zabini…" Giselle trailed off, feeling slightly awkward.

"If me staying with you guys is a problem, I can always go back to Hogwarts." Robbie said quickly, his eyes widened, "I don't want to be a burden to anyone." He knew all about being a burden from his mother. Hermione's eyes watered up a bit.

"Of course not darling, we are more than happy to have you stay with us." she went to hug him, which stunned Robbie because his own mother had never hugged him before, "In fact, we have a surprise for you." Robbie's eye lit up.

"Really?" Robbie smiled, "It's not even Christmas!" Hermione nodded towards Blaise.

"Hi Robbie." Blaise stepped up. Robbie turned to look at Blaise and froze. He stared at him for the longest time, which made Blaise sort of uncomfortable. Should he just turn and run right now? Without thinking, Blaise lifted both arms towards Robbie, "Son…" there's no turning back anymore. Robbie did what Blaise didn't think he would have done, he ran into his arms and sobbed into his shoulders.

"Dad…" Robbie muffled into Blaise's shirt, "This is the best Christmas gift ever, I don't want anything else." Blaise held Robbie close to him as he felt his heart swell with happiness. This was his son and nothing is going to take him away from him.

Hermione wiped her eyes at the scene before her as Draco wrapped an arms around her. Giselle seemed to be proud of her decision about bringing Robbie over for the break. Scorpio, who was too young to know what was going on, reached over and gave Giselle's hair a hard tug - definitely ruining her moment to enjoy the reunion.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

There was a knock on the door, waking him up. He groaned and looked at the clock - 2am. What? Who was bothering him at this ungodly hour? The knock became more impatient and certainly louder.

"Fuck!" he cursed while he got out of bed. He stomped his way over to the door and swung it open, "What the fuck do you want?" The beautiful face on the other side of the door looked surprised.

"Is that how you greet a visitor?" she asked, clearly not liking the way she was greeted. He just stared her angelic face. Why would she ever be visiting him? Especially at this hour?

"H-hi." he managed to stammer. The beautiful face rolled her eyes.

"Pick your jaws off the floor and let me in before anyone sees me at your house." she pushed her way in, "If you even call this a house." she glanced around the untidy room.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, closing the door, "Sit down." he offered after she didn't answer. She glanced at the room disgustingly.

"No thanks, I'm not here for long." she sniffed, "I just want your alliance."

"A-alliance?" he asked, confused as to what's going on, "What are you talking about?"

"You want her don't you?" she looked at him dead in the eyes, "Don't bother lying, I know. I can help you get her if you help me get what I want."

"What do you want?" he asked, not able to take his eyes off the beauty.

"That doesn't matter, all that matter is that you listen to me and we'll both get what we want." she took a step towards him, "So do we have a deal?"

"There has to be conditions." he said, feeling slightly bold, "I mean, reasonable conditions." she raised her perfectly shaped brows at him.

"Conditions?" she asked, clearly irritated, "I don't think you understand me too well. I don't do conditions, if you follow what I say then we both will be happy."

"I just don't want blood to be shed, that's all." He rushed before she can say anything else. She gave a small laugh.

"There won't be blood shed if everything goes according to plan." she said firmly, "And everything _will_ go according to plan right?"

"Of-of course." he gulped.

"Good, I will owl you instructions." she walked towards the door, "And do not reply unless it's important. My instructions leave no questions, in fact it's very simple to understand, even for someone like you."

"I'll be waiting for your owl then." he nodded.

"I got to get going before anyone sees me here." she walked towards the door.

"You have to actually walk out of the property before you can apparate." he pointed out, "Unless you want to use my floo network."

"I've notice." she replied coldly, "But I rather apparate." she walked out the door and down the walk way. Once she was out of his property, she turned around to face him one last time. The moonlight cast a shadow across her face, yet he can still see her beauty from the distance. She gave him one curt nod and before he couldn't even blink, Astoria disappeared into the night.

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

Hermione beamed at the guests filled the manor. She did all this! She had all the food prepared to come out in certain orders with precise timing, the decorations looked amazing and the guests seemed to be having fun. There were waiters walking around the manor offering the guests flutes of champagne and trays of appetizers.

"You did an excellent job." Draco whispered and nuzzled her neck from behind. Hermione squealed, turned around and flung her arms around him. She planted a big kiss on him and hugged him closely.

"Ew, that's gross." Giselle gagged. Draco swatted Giselle away playfully while Robbie dragged her away.

"Blaise and Robbie's been getting along perfectly huh?" Hermione beamed. Blaise and Robbie spent every single day together since the train station. They were over a lot at the manor, and from what Hermione could see, it was as if they knew each other from day one. They both watched Blaise tousled Robbie's hair and handed him drink.

"I hope he didn't give him the alcohol." Hermione tried to remember if she ordered any non-alcoholic drinks for the kids.

"Knowing Blaise, he's probably wants to start him off early." Draco joked. Pansy made her way over them with Stefano.

"Hi guys, this is Stefano." Pansy introduced, "You remember Stefano right Hermione?" she winked at her.

"Of course!" Hermione was happy that they were together, "It's great to see you again."

"And it's great to you see you sober and not yelling at me." Stefano joked. Hermione blushed at the memory of her yelling at Stefano at the bar.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Hermione teased.

"Why don't you two boys go catch up?" Pansy ushered Stefano and Draco away. Hermione had kept contact with Pansy ever since their encounter at Moxy, but they didn't write to each other everyday, just every now and then.

"When did you guys get back together?" Hermione asked, smiling.

"Just last week!" Pansy squealed, "And this time I think it's for good, you know why?"

"Why?" Hermione asked curiously.

"He proposed to me!" Pansy squealed again, "I'm not wearing the ring tonight because I don't want anyone to know yet. We'll announce it to everyone in January so keep it on the down low!"

"No way! Congratulations!" Hermione gasped happily.

"So, has Astoria been bugging Draco lately?" Pansy asked,

"Surprisingly, we haven't heard from her since the day she came back from Bulgaria. It's too good to be true, it makes it kind of fishy." Hermione pondered, "I know Narcissa invited her tonight but she hasn't showed yet."

"Of course she hasn't, she always like showing up late so everyone can pay attention to her new designer dress." Pansy scoffed.

"I heard she's bringing someone too." Hermione told her, "But I don't know who."

"Did you tell Blaise to spill about Jennifer yet?" Pansy asked, "Because Astoria will do a good job ripping her apart."

"Oh no, I haven't yet." Hermione smacked herself on the head, "I totally forgot. I'll have to do that later on tonight."

"Better get on it." Pansy nodded and sipped her wine.

"Is everyone here yet?" Narcissa came sweeping up to them. Just as she finished asking, the doorbell rang.

"Who can that be." Pansy asked sarcastically, "They're only two hours late." Narcissa waved at the waiter to open the door. Astoria stood there beaming in all her glory flashing everyone a smile.

"Sorry I'm terribly late." She apologized, even though it was clear that she was not sorry at all, "My date had to work late tonight." Hermione's eyes went from her to the guy next to her and her mouth dropped open.

"Ron?"

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N: **So that's chapter ten! What do you guys think? Thanks for all those who reviews! If I haven't replied back, I'm terribly sorry! Please Review! Thanks! **xoxo**


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: **I'm so sorry guys! I know it's been months since I updated but I've been so stressed out with school and all that and right now I'm still in the middle of midterms. I'll try try try to update as soon as I can!**

**CHAPTER ELEVEN - **_I want out_

Ron was standing tall with a confident smile played upon his lip, in fact, it probably would be border line cockiness. He glanced around the room smiling at faces that doesn't recognize him.

"What is he doing here?" Draco hissed at Astoria. Hermione growled at the fact that Draco was even talking to Astoria.

"Maybe you should ask why Astoria is here as well." Pansy piped up throwing Astoria a dirty look.

"My my, I do feel jealousy in the room." Astoria said airily, "He's here as my date of course."

"I thought you don't date poor blood traitors." Pansy said, narrowing her eyes. Hermione saw Ron's mouth switched, but he didn't say anything. The anger management class must have worked miracles.

"Oh he's being modest." Astoria patted Ron's arm, "He didn't tell anyone that he was promoted just today and he received a great sum of money as well from his uncle Joe."

"I didn't know he had an uncle Joe." Harry said quietly, behind Hermione.

"Neither did I." she replied back, not taking her eyes off Ron.

"Oh you know me, I don't like attention." Ron said, with sickly sweet voice. That caused Hermione to snort. Ron turned to Hermione and smiled, "Oh Hermione, it's so great to see you again!"

"I wish I can say the same." Hermione replied nonchalantly.

"Oh look! The entrees coming out!" Narcissa called out loudly, clearly trying to direct everyone's attention to the trays of food coming out - evidently, it worked. Soon everyone was chowing down.

"Oh how I missed you Hermione." Ron said from behind. She whirled around and narrowed her eyes, Astoria didn't seem to be with him.

"Where's your date?" she demanded.

"A bit jealous?" Ron said cockily, "Don't worry, between you and I, you're a lot prettier than her." he placed his hands on her shoulders. Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing!

"Ron, it's been _ten_ years! Get over it!" Hermione shrugged his hands off.

"Look, I need to talk to you, can we go somewhere more private?" Ron sighed. Hermione glared at him for a second and then sighed herself. She believed that everyone deserved a second chance, but Ron doesn't. But maybe hearing him out wouldn't be so bad even though whatever he said won't affect her decision. They went to an empty corridor.

"What do you want Ron?" Hermione crossed her arms, "Whatever we had was _ten_ years ago. Did you forget what you did to me?"

"I know the things I've done in the past was horrible." Ron hung his head, "I went to therapy and took all these classes for you so we can start all over. So I can treat you the way you should be treated."

"I've heard that line before." Hermione said bitterly, recalling their wedding vows, "And it's not fair for me that you wanted me to wait _ten_ years for you."

"I know, I know…" Ron looked at her pleadingly, "I'm just asking for a second chance…" Hermione was waiting for him to explode, but it didn't come. Classes can't really make someone change that well can you?

"I'm sorry…" Hermione softly said and started to walk away. Ron grabbed her arms and pulled her back. He then crushed his lips upon hers. Hermione screamed and pushed him away, "What the fuck Ron?" she tried to slap him but Ron grabbed her arms.

"I like it when your feisty." Ron growled and tried to kiss her away, but later decided to pull her against his chest forcefully.

"Oh look, this hallway seemed to be taken." Astoria's voice sounded a bit gleeful. Hermione kicked Ron and pulled away. Draco stood there, frozen with shock.

"It's not what you think." Hermione explained, "Ron here, tried to kiss me and-"

"I don't even want to hear it!" Draco snapped causing Astoria to smile widely behind his back. She then gave Ron a wink, which made Hermione realize that they both had planned this.

"You guys planned this!" Hermione pointed her fingers at Astoria.

"Please, don't blaming people for your own fall out." Astoria sneered, "It's clear that you need more than one guy to keep you satisfied." Draco turned around and walked away.

"Draco!" Hermione called out, but he kept on walking. Ron sent her a triumph look before setting out towards the front door. Hermione gripped her wand tightly before turning towards her own room. She cursed herself for even putting herself in that situation. She shouldn't have let Ron talked to her, what was she thinking? She knew how Draco didn't like Ron and yet she let him talk to her privately. She sat at her vanity table and stared at the reflection that was looking back at her. Her eyes was red and weary.

"Hermione?" Pansy called from the doorway. As soon as Hermione heard Pansy's voice, she sobbed.

"She did it." Hermione choked, "She got Draco to get mad at me, and we both know Draco! Whenever he's mad, he does rash things without thinking. What if-?"

"Oh sweetie, you know Draco wouldn't do that to you, especially after ten years of marriage." Pansy went to hug Hermione.

"Are you okay Hermione?" Harry and Cherise came from he doorway.

"No, I'm not!" Hermione cried, "Why can't Astoria just go away? How bad does she want Draco? I'm sure there's other rich men out there that are good looking."

"You know her, always wanting something she can't have." Pansy said bitterly.

"Blaise is talking to Malfoy." Harry said. Hermione was a tiny bit relieved that Draco was with Blaise and not Astoria.

"Where's Astoria?" Hermione asked.

"Well, when Blaise said he was going to be with Malfoy, Astoria threw a hissy fit." Harry explained. Hermione rolled her eyes and heard Pansy whispered 'bitch' under her breath, "Blaise wouldn't let up so she left, without Ron." Speaking of Ron…

"Hermione?" Ron's voice came from the doorway. The nerves he had! Hermione clenched her wand tightly and stood up.

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" Hermione cried out pointing her wand at Ron. Ron's body snapped together as he fell on the floor, "Don't you fucking talk to me again! If you dare to come near me, I'll hex your balls off and make you fucking eat it!" she screamed. Cherise had to hold Hermione back.

"It's best if you go." Harry said through gritted teeth.

"I need to-" Ron began but was cut off.

"Just go! I never 'ave to face such violent!" Cherise cried out, not able to handle Hermione's trashing, "I'm afraid I cannot hold much longer!" Pansy just sat there enjoying the scene unfold before her. Ron cast her one last pleading look before he ran out the door.

**xxxxxxxxxxx**

"Look mate, she didn't do anything wrong." Blaise tried to reason with Draco who was out in the front yard.

"You didn't see her Blaise." Draco growled, "She was all in his arms."

"This was a plan between Astoria and Ron." Blaise told him, "Tiffany overheard them talking by the table earlier this evening."

"Who's Tiffany?"

"The brunette girl I was with earlier." Blaise told him, "Look, you can use veritaserum on me, I am not lying to you." Draco looked at him for a second before sighing.

"I know she won't do anything." Draco looked away, "It's just…seeing her so close to someone who hurt her so much makes me furious…why she even let him talk to her is beyond me."

"Well…I know it's not my place but let me ask you something." Blaise looked at Draco, "Why do you talk to Astoria?"

"Excuse me?" Draco turned around and faced him.

"Although you weren't ever married to Astoria, it doesn't make her any different from Ron." Blaise pointed out, "Can't you see what she's trying to do? Are you telling me that you're that blind that you can't see that she's trying to rip you two apart?"

"Well…" Draco began but Blaise raised his hands.

"Draco, you're almost thirty, grow up." Blaise lectured, "Maybe back in the day you love to see two girls fight over you, but you're not seventeen anymore. You're married to Hermione for_ ten_ years and have two beautiful children together. Are you willing to throw that all away for some whore? You know all Astoria want is your money and looks. Hermione on the other hand, you know she didn't marry you for your money. To be honest, when you came out of Azkaban you looked like shit, and she didn't even care. After all those years of taunting at Hogwarts, she was still willing to look past that and give you a second chance."

"You're right…" Draco sighed. Then they both heard yelling from an open window on the second level.

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" They heard Hermione screamed. Draco assumed it was directed at Ron, or so he hoped, "Don't you fucking talk to me again! If you dare to come near me, I'll hex your balls off and make you fucking eat it!"

"And did I mention you have a feisty wife?" Blaise joked, "That's always a plus." At that, Draco had to smile. Yes, yes he knew he married a feisty woman. They heard Cherise yelling at Ron to leave because she couldn't handle Hermione. Minutes later, they saw Ron stomping out of the house with a limp. Wonder what happened there?

"You're right." Draco straightened up, "I'm not going to talk to Astoria anymore and I'll make sure my mom doesn't add her on the guest list anymore."

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**

"You are so stupid!" Astoria screeched. Ron stood there shameful, "Can't you even do something right? The instructions I gave you were so simple!"

"Hey, it kind of work didn't it?" Ron asked meekly, "I mean, we got Draco to be mad at Hermione."

"No we didn't!" Astoria rounded on him, "I know Draco when he's mad, and he's not mad! He's just frustrated! And it probably wasn't what you did either. He's probably just frustrated that she was talking to you."

"I couldn't do it." Ron finally said. Astoria balled her fists tightly, "I couldn't wreck what Hermione wants. I really love her and want her to be happy. If being with Draco makes her happy, than I'll be happy knowing she's happy."

"Give me a break!" Astoria rolled her eyes, "Of course she's happy with him! She's married to him for ten years and have two brats. If you make her give you a chance, she could be happier with you! All the memories she has of you is when you were an abusive rat face"

"I can't do it." Ron said more firmly.

"You could have said this from the beginning!" Astoria growled, "You made me look bad! All you had to do was put an imperius curse on her when you guys were alone in the hallway! You had plenty of time to do that."

"She's clearly happy with who she's with." Ron turned around to walk away from her.

"Are you telling me that those stupid classes you took in America works?" Astoria asked disbelievingly, "Bullshit!"

"Believe what you want." Ron said over his shoulder, "I want out."

"There is no out." Astoria smiled sweetly, "You've agreed to help me and you will until the deal is done." She lifted her wand.

"What-" Ron began but was cut of by the spell that left Astoria's mouth.

"_Imperio_"

**xxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N:** It's a short chapter guys! Please review =) and again, sorry for the super long update =( Thanks to all those who had reviewed!


	12. Chapter 12

A/N:** Hey guys, I'm super sorry for the latest update ever. School has been crazy! Good thing it ends in 2 weeks! I'm updating this chapter right before the start of my exams, please forgive me!**

**CHAPTER TWELVE**_- Unsolved feelings_

Hermione sat by the fireplace hoping Draco would pop out of it so she can explain everything. Maybe grovel if she had to even though she didn't do anything wrong. She heard a pop behind her and quickly spun around.

"Oh Draco! I'm so sorry!" Hermione ran blindly at him, her eyes shut, trying not to cry, "I shouldn't have even talked to him!" She threw his arms around him and inhaled deeply. Then, she froze. This wasn't Draco's scent.

Her eyes flew open and looked up. Blaise was standing there looking down at her with a small smile played upon his lips.

"Oh! I'm sorry." Hermione lets go after turning immediately red. Blaise gave a good hearted laugh.

"Don't worry about it." he told her and went to sit on the couch. Hermione stood where she was trying to fight her tears, but in the end, she had lost.

"Where's Draco?" Hermione sobbed, "I-I need to find him. I need to t-tell him how sorry I am!"

"You didn't do anything wrong Mione…" Blaise whispered as he moved towards her. Hermione slightly froze when he used the nickname Draco sometimes used on her. It didn't sound awkward like when Ron or Harry said it, it sounded…right. Blaise was standing in front of her now, "He's just at a local hotel near by."

"What?" Hermione gasped between sobs, "No! You know what Draco will do when he's mad! He doesn't think when he's mad! Having him stay at a hotel…sure he's going to find some girl and…and…" but she couldn't finish off her sentence.

"Shh…shh…" Blaise soothed and wrapped his arms around her, which she allowed. She buried her face into his chest and mumbled something he couldn't understand, "I had a talk with him right before he left and knock some sense into him. He finally came about and realized what Astoria wanted to do. He just needed some time to himself."

Apparently his words hadn't brought her any comfort. All she wanted to do was be in Draco's arms and have everything all right again. Blaise lead her to the couch and they both sat down.

"You don't have to stay the night Blaise." Hermione hiccupped. Blaise looked down at the petite brunette. She was still in his arms sobbing, but it had quieted down a bit, "I can take care of myself. The kids and Robbie are with Draco's parents so I'm f-fine." He rolled his eyes at her lie.

"Clearly you're not fine." He countered. He tightened his grip around her, "I'm going to stay the night." he said firmly.

"What about Tiffany?" she asked looking at him.

"She left with some other guy." Blaise sighed, "Can't say I didn't see that one coming." Hermione wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.

"You're a good friend you know that" Hermione said, looking at him, "Not only to Draco, but also to me."

"You know I'll always be there for you guys." Blaise smiled, "Especially you." Hermione locked eyes with him. Everything became silent in the room with only the fire crackling in the fireplace. Hermione was the first to look away after what seemed like endless hours.

"I really appreciate that." she whispered and looked back towards the fireplace, "Thanks for staying the night." Blaise didn't say anything as he felt Hermione fall asleep in his arms.

"There's nowhere else I'd rather be." He whispered as he looked away from the fireplace and down at what he thought was an angel sleeping in his arms. He placed a gentle kiss on top of her head and looked back at the fireplace as he relished in the moment.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Giselle heard a knock on her bedroom. She quietly slipped out of bed to open the door and saw Robbie standing there.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered, trying not to wake up the grandparents. They were currently at their cabin in Switzerland. The grandparents insisted they left right after the part. Giselle suspected that their parents had gotten into a fight because right before she floo'd she saw her dad angrily talking to Blaise while her mother was upstairs crying. She didn't know why they were fighting though.

"I couldn't sleep." Robbie said and invited himself in, "And I wanted to talk." Giselle rolled her eyes and closed the door.

"What is it?" she asked as she climbed back onto her bed. Robbie sat down at the end of her bed.

"I wanted to thank you for bringing me back home with you during the break." he stated softly, "And reunite me with my father." Giselle softened her eyes.

"You know I'd do anything for you." Giselle reached over and squeezed his hands. His eyes brightened up a bit in the moonlight, "That's what best friends do." She added and his face fell a bit, but she didn't notice.

"And you better watch yourself." Robbie said quietly.

"Excuse me?" Giselle narrowed her eyes, "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Right before the holidays I heard Jack Rowle talking about you." Robbie said, "Apparently he has taken a liking of you. I'm not sure 'liking' as in a crush or 'liking' as in bullying you." Giselle's stomach clenched. Jack's face filled her mind, his taunting face leered at her. But at the same time, his dark eyes penetrating right into hers, gave her goosebumps, but not from fright, but of temptation.

Giselle hasn't told anyone, but there's something about Jack that draws her to him. He is the bad boy that all the girls should avoid but couldn't. She remembered stories of how her dad was just like Jack Rowle, eventually her mother tamed the bad boy personality of her dad. Can she do that to Jack? She shook her head, what was she even thinking? Jack Rowle? She must be going crazy.

"Something wrong?" Robbie asked looking concerned, "You know I won't let him do anything to you."

"I know you and Andrew won't let anything happen to me." Giselle offered him a weak smile, pushing Jack of her mind. Robbie stiffened at the sound of Andrew's name - this is noticed, "Robbie?"

"You know…Andrew likes you." Robbie said with a hint of resentment in his voice. He knew he was no match for Andrew in anyway. Andrew was smart, a pureblood, came from a family with deep history rooted in him. He, on the other hand, grew up not knowing his father with mother who wished he was never born. Not to be mistaken that Blaise didn't love him, its just he wished he was there from the beginning.

"Really?" Giselle looked thoughtful. Andrew's face came swimming into her mind. He was incredibly cute and not to mention, smart. But could she actually like him? Would it be too weird for Robbie?

"Ya and well…" Robbie hesitated, causing Giselle to look up, "The thing is that I-"

"Shh!" Giselle grabbed his hand and placed a finger in front of her lips. They both froze as they heard footsteps coming down the hall, "Quick! Hide!"

Robbie looked around the room but there was no place for him to hide.

"Here! Under my blanket! Make sure you're close to me as possible so we can look somewhat like one person." Giselle shoved Blaise under her puffy blanket.

The door creaked open and Narcissa peeked in.

"Who are you talking to?" she asked, looking around the room.

"No one grandma." Giselle tried to sound like she's yawning, "I was probably sleep talking." she held her breath hoping Narcissa would buy her story.

"Okay sweetie." Narcissa finally replied, "If you have any trouble, please call me."

"Okay grandma." Giselle replied trying not to giggled as she felt Robbie's head by her waist. Narcissa left the room and Robbie came up for air.

"Merlin! I was suffocating in there!" Robbie laughed, secretly pleased he was that close to Giselle. Giselle turned to face him and offered him a smile.

"I think you better get going before grandpa Lucius finds out and kills you."

"I think that's a great idea." Robbie hopped off the bed. He paused by the door, debating weather he should tell her what he was going to say.

"Robbie?" Giselle's voice came from the dark.

"Yeah?" there was a pause.

"I know boys have this kind of code where you don't tell girls what you guys talked about between each other…" Giselle started, "It's hard being the only girl in the group…thank you for telling me. I couldn't ask for a better friend."

Robbie scrunched up his face in pain knowing Giselle can't see it. _Yeah….friend…_

"Anything for you." Robbie whispered as he walked out the door.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N:** Sorry guys for the long update! I'm sincerely sorry! I know this isn't a great chapter but my exams do end in 2 weeks and I'll definitely make it up to you guys! Please review! **xoxo**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N:** I AM SO SORRY! It's been almost half a year and you guys probably don't even remember what's happening in this story! I've been so busy, honestly, I was working my ass off trying to get into this University and I finally got in! But everything's so fast paced I just don't have time!

**CHAPTER THIRTEEN**_ - Forbidden Kiss_

Hermione yawned and stretched. Her eye fluttered open and saw that she was lying in her own bed. She jolted up and flung her feet off the bed and rushed downstairs.

"Morning sleepy head." Blaise grinned from the kitchen counter. He put down his coffee, "How was your night?" Hermione saw Draco sitting next to Blaise.

"It was good, thank you." Hermione replied carefully, and continued to stare at Draco. He gave her a wink and patted the seat next to her. Little did he know, the acknowledgement and action sent a wave of relief through her body. She bounced her way next to Draco and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Morning." She said shyly.

"Morning pretty lady." Draco sent her a seductive smile, "When are the kids getting back?"

"In a few days, the day before they leave for Hogwarts." Hermione maneuvered herself into Draco's arms, "I think your parents are spoiling them too much." She teased.

"Nothing but the best for our kids." Draco smirked, "But this gives us a few days for ourselves eh?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

Hermione giggled and squealed as Draco scooped her up and headed towards the stairs.

"I'm sure you can show yourself out Blaise." Draco winked at Blaise.

"Sure thing." Blaise gave a small smile but Hermione did not miss that look of resentment in his eyes.

She stared at him for a bit before Blaise cleared his throat and gave a weak wave and headed out the door.

"So where were we?" Draco growled huskily and swept her up to the room.

He threw her on the bed and pounced on top of her. He slowly kissed her neck, nibbling at her sensitive spot causing her to moan. With a flash of the wand, they were both naked and he muttered a contraceptive spell.

"You're not wasting time are you?" Hermione teased. Draco responded by running her fingers up her thighs and stopping at her groin, "Please, please!" Hermione arched her back. Draco sent her a smirk before he thrusts his fingers into her wet core. Hermione moaned and quivered. He started pumping slowly, and then quickened his pace. Within minutes, Hermione came hard onto his hands.

He flipped her into doggy style and thrusts his hard self into her pumping her mercilessly before letting her recover from her high. Hermione screamed with pleasure as she came for the second time. Draco grunted spilled his seed into her.

Hermione snuggled into his arms as they relaxed.

"Sorry I wasn't here last night." Draco murmured and kissed the top of her head, "You know I don't like leaving you alone like that…I just needed to cool off."

"That's okay, it's understandable." Hermione replied and she squirmed closer to Draco, "Besides, Blaise stayed the night."

Draco froze slightly, whether Hermione felt it or not, he didn't know. _Blaise stayed the night?_

"Oh, he failed to mention that this morning." Draco tried to sound casual, "I thought he just came by in the morning."

"It wasn't a big deal." Hermione yawned, "We sat on the couch by the fireplace hoping you would pop up."

Draco relaxed slightly knowing that they didn't share a bed. _Silly, of course they wouldn't share a bed!_

_He is a very good-looking guy though…_ a thought crept into his head.

_Yes, but he's your best friend and she's your wife, they would not do such thing to you._

"Something on your mind sweetheart?" Hermione broke into his thought.

"No, nothing." Draco reassured her, "I'm just glad you didn't spend the night alone, that's all."

"Yes, Blaise is an amazing friend." Hermione agreed and drifted off to sleep. Draco clutched her tightly as thoughts wandered back into his head.

"Bye mom! Bye dad!" Giselle waved her hands frantically out the Hogwarts train.

"Take care!" Hermione called out as the train started whistling. Blaise rushed up and handed Robbie a huge object that' covered by a piece of cloth.

"What is it?" Robbie asked as his eyes lit up.

"Open it up and you'll find out." Blaised smiled. Robbie ripped off the cloth and a smile broke out as he saw a large chocolate brown owl, "Now you can write to me without using those awful school owls."

"Blaise!" Hermione scolded. "There are nothing wrong with those school owls!"

"They sure are damn slow." Blaise chuckled, "This one is speedy!"

"Thanks!" Robbie exclaimed and gave his dad a big hug. He turned to Hermione and looked at her, "Thanks for everything…you were more than kind to me. I feel like you're like the mother I never had." He reached up and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Hermione froze, she didn't know she had effected him like that.

"You deserve happiness Robbie." Hermione smiled. Blaise stood at a distant staring at the action exchanged between his son and Hermione. How he wished that Hermione really were the mom of his son.

Draco glanced uncomfortably at Robbie than at Blaise who was looking at both Hermione and Robbie with an expression on his face that Draco couldn't quite put his finger to.

_Longing?_ Draco shook the thought of his head, _Blaise wouldn't be longing anything like that for Hermione_. Draco looked as Hermione brushed Robbie's hair like she would do Scorpio and his stomach clenched.

_No, I'm just overthinking it._ Draco scolded himself.

"Did you hear what I said honey?" Hermione's voice broke into his thoughts again.

"I'm sorry, I was too busy thinking about my work." Draco lied, "What is it you said?"

"Blaise invited us for dinner." Hermione said.

"Oh, oh yes." Draco nodded. The train gave a final whistle before it started to move slowly. Draco walked over to Hermione and gave her a kiss on the cheek making sure Blaise saw.

Yes, Draco does not trust Blaise anymore.

"Nice owl." Andrew acknowledged as Robbie and Giselle walked into the compartment.

"Thanks, my dad got it for me." Robbie sat down across from Andrew.

"I'll be right back, I need to use the washroom." Giselle said and she left the compartment.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" Jack's voice came from behind. Giselle whirled around facing the dark haired boy.

"What do you want Rowle?" Giselle hissed.

"Where's your posse?" Jack asked, ignoring her question.

"I can ask the same thing." Giselle shot back. Jack smirked and sauntered slowly towards her. Giselle took a few steps back and stumbled into an empty compartment.

"Oh so you've noticed." Jack's smile widened.

"It's not hard to not notice two missing buffoons." Giselle retorted, despite her heart racing. Jack closed the gap between them.

"Such unladylike words coming from such a pretty mouth." Jack chuckled and placed a finger on Giselle's mouth.

Giselle's heart was racing as she glanced into his eyes that represented a deep, dark pool. Her heart fluttered as Jack placed his fingers on her lips. _What is going on?_ Giselle tried to reach for her wand but she cursed herself when she realized that she left it in the compartment.

Jack noticed and smiled widely.

"What's this, the bookworm forgot her wand? That's not good is it?" Jack closed the gap between them and pressed his lips against hers. Giselle stood there shocked. She didn't like what was happening, but she didn't hate it either.

"No!" Giselle finally cried out and shoved him hard and ran out the compartment without looking back. She went back into her original compartment and sat down.

"Something wrong?" Andrew asked, giving her a worried glance.

"No, no nothing." Giselle lied and smoothed down her hair, "Just exhausted." The boys took her words for it as she stared out the window thinking about the kiss she had received a few minutes ago.

**A/N:** Sorry again guys! I'll try to update faster. I actually have another story planned out in my head already. I'm not a big fan of sequels because the story focuses more on Hermione & Draco's kids rather than them. So I might also start another story!


	14. AUTHORS NOTE: HELP!

**A/N: Hey guys, THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER (sorry!) but I did start a new story and was wondering why I can't upload it!**

**Right after choosing my category: book Harry Potter, I click "continue" and this message pops up:**

_ Error Type 2_

_An error has occurred while processing your request._

_Please email this error message to via __._

_All errors are logged for administrative and security purposes._

**Any one know what is wrong?**

I actually figured out how to solve the "uploading" new chapters thing thanks to RZZMG! However, that didn't solve my dilemma of starting a new story =S


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: **Hey guys! My exams are officially over! I'll try to update as much as I can before school starts again in the summer. I'm heading to Florida in 2 days so hopefully I can get a chapter down for this and my other story!

**Chapter 14** – _The Guest_

"Hurry up Draco!" Hermione called from the fireplace. Draco slowly walked into the living room tying his tie.

"What's the rush?" Draco mumbled and she put on his coat.

"We're late for Blaise's dinner." Hermione gave him an impatient look, "And he has a guest tonight, so we better not make them wait." Draco grumbled something but took a handful of floo powder.

"Blaise's apartment!" Draco said and stepped into the fireplace after throwing the powder in. He stumbled out of the fireplace shortly followed by Hermione.

"Goodness Draco!" Hermione bumped into Draco's back, "It's courtesy to move out of the way after exiting the fireplace." Draco gave her a smirk before taking her hands and led them to the dining room.

"It's about time you guys got here!" Blaise smiled widely at them. He was sitting at the head of the table, "My guest is just using the washroom right now and will be down here in a few minutes!"

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Hermione apologized, "Draco had trouble getting ready on time."

"Only because you kept me occupied." Draco winked. Hermione blushed.

"Don't tell lies." She mumbled.

"Whatever you want to call it my dear." Draco laughed and planted a kiss on Hermione's forehead.

"Hermione darling, you get to sit on my left side tonight!" Blaise patted the seat to his left.

"Does that mean I get your right side?" Draco joked.

"Unfortunately my guest already called dibs on that." Blaise chuckled. Just as he finished his sentence, his guest stepped into the room.

"Sorry to keep you guys waiting." A female voice said. Everyone whirled around to face a girl about Hermione's height. She had wavy brown hair that cascaded her down her back with hazel brown eyes, slightly lighter than Hermione's. She walked over to the right side of Blaise.

"Guys, this is Hazel Gergovoksi." Blaise introduced, "Her father is a very successful business wizard in Poland and her mother studied witchcraft from Croatia!"

"Oh yes, and you must be the infamous Draco Malfoy." Hazel shot Draco a sly smile, "I've heard all about you, infact, everyone in the Wizarding world knows about _you_."

"Glad I'm famous." Draco laughed and studied this witch. She looked strikingly familiar. She was very pretty indeed and had a light laugh that also reminded him of someone he knew, but he couldn't quite put his fingers on it.

"And you must be Hermione Granger." Hazel turned to Hermione, "Blaise would not stop talking about you."

"Blaise is always a flatterer, so don't take his words too seriously!" Hermione joked, "Plus it's Hermione Malfoy for years now." She added which earned a smile from Draco.

"Yes, yes he is." Hazel looked up admiringly at Blaise, "I think you're forgetting some important information in the introduction dear."

"Oh, oh right!" Blaise shook his head as if he couldn't believe he had forgotten to mention this, "Hazel is my girlfriend."

Just as he had said that, Draco recognized who she reminded him of.

Hazel Gergovoski looks just like Hermione Granger.

Giselle gathered her books in her arms as she stood up from the library table. She glanced at the clock and realized she's was past curfew by twenty minutes but since her table was at the very back corner, Madame Pince missed her while checking for students in the library before closing down. She tried to fit one more book into her arms but one slight misplacement the whole stack in her arms toppled to the floor.

"I wouldn't be that loud if I'm sneaking around past curfew." A voice said from behind. Giselle whirled around and saw Jack.

"What do you want Rowle?" Giselle demanded backing away.

"Why so hostile Malfoy?" Jack smirked and advanced towards her. Giselle's waist hit the table and she stopped dead.

"Because we have nothing to talk about." Giselle tried to make her way round him, but he stopped her and cornered her against a wall. He placed both arms on both side of Giselle trapping her.

"We have plenty to talk about." Jack whispered, "How about that kiss?" Giselle blushed.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Giselle said lamely.

"Aw, don't say that." Jack gave her a smile and leaned in closer, "Why are you denying it?"

"Because you had no right to do what you did on the train!" Giselle snapped at him. She tried to push him away but there was no avail.

"It's not like you didn't enjoy it." Jack said cockily.

"I didn't!"

"Oh, that is why you took so long to push me away?" Jack smirked and leaned in closer. Giselle could feel his breath upon her face. Her heart was beating so loud that she was sure that Jack could have heard it.

"I-I…" Giselle for once was lost for words. Jack took that as a sign and leaned in and kissed her. This time Giselle gave in and started kissing back. She wrapped her arms him and pulled him closer.

After a few minutes, they broke away panting. Jack's eyes glinted in the dim moonlight that was shining through the window.

"I-I got to go." Giselle stammered and quickly gathered her books and booked it out of the library.

"It was so funny!" Hazel's laugh tinkled throughout the dining room. Draco couldn't help but stare at her. She was like a mix of Hermione and…someone else familiar. Has he slept with her before? Not that he remembered.

"And that is why I'm dating her." Blaise smiled and patted her hands.

_Or because she looks like Hermione! _Draco thought bitterly. Hermione sat there smiling at Hazel, but Draco could tell that her mind was wheeling.

"How did you guys meet?" Hermione asked, placing her glass of wine down.

"It's a funny story actually." Blaise started, "When I left your house that morning I went to down Diagon Alley to pick up some potion. When I enter the store I saw Hazel's back and I thought it was Hermione because if you seen what I saw, you would agree that she looks exactly like her. So I pounced on her back. Let's say that wasn't Hermione. The rest you don't exactly need to know." Blaise winked.

"I had to say he was one of the best looking guys I've ever met." Hazel giggled, "Now you can join that group too." She added, winking at Draco.

"I'm already in a similar group." Draco replied, "And I've been for ten years." Hazel's eyes narrowed slightly before she quickly replaced it with a bright smile.

"Oh your lost." Hazel laughed.

"We're not swingers." Hermione said coolly.

"Oh Hazel doesn't mean it like that." Blaise cut in quickly and patted Hermione's hands. His hands slightly lingered on her hands before he gave her a slight squeeze before letting go.

"No, of course not!" Hazel added but there was a hint of resentment in her voice.

"Oh, I must show you this new kit I got for my broom." Blaise said, "Imported from Bulgaria." Draco stood up and went with Blaise out the room.

"You know, I think Blaise has a little crush on you." Hazel said suddenly.

"What?" Hermione was taken aback at her comment, "Don't be silly, he's simply captured by your…charm."

"Who wouldn't be?" she joked, "But in all seriousness, he always talks about you. He really admires you, so you must teach me to be like you."

"Don't be silly, you're perfect the way you are." Hermione said.

"Plus your husband is _very_ good looking." Hazel said in a low voice, "How did you snag him? I heard you were a muggleborn. Didn't he only like purebloods?"

"What are you implying?" Hermione asked, her voice raised a bit, "Draco _was_ like that but he changed very much."

"I can see that." Hazel leaned back against her chair, "It's a wonder."

"Excuse me?" Hermione stood up, "I really don't believe this is a very appropriate conversation."

"You're right, I'm sorry." Hazel also stood up, "People change, nothing is set in stone." Hazel added.

"Some things are." Hermione shot back.

"Nothing is." Hazel replied with a low voice.

"That is an impressive kit." Draco's voice came around the corner.

"Just 150 galleons, my friend, and you yourself can get one." Blaise said.

"Great just give me your supplier's name." Draco said. Hazel quickly sat down.

"Why are you standing up Hermione?" Blaise asked.

"I was just about to leave." Hermione replied, "I have to pick up Scorpius."

"Well it is getting late." Draco said, "It's best we get going." Hazel got up and walked over to them.

"It'll be great if we can do this again." Hazel said sweetly. She leaned forwards to give Draco a kiss on both cheeks. However, her lips lingered a bit too long and a bit too close to his lips.

Hermione seethed silently.

"Owl me?" Blaise asked as he casually threw his hands over her shoulder. Hermione reluctantly tore her eyes away from Hazel.

"Of course." Hermione smiled, "I'd be careful of her if I were you though. A perfect looking apple isn't always sweet inside." She warned. Blaise leaned in towards Hermione.

"You are perfect." Blaise whispered, "And much prettier than her." He winked at her. Hermione blushed.

"I wasn't implying that-" Hermione began but Draco cut her off.

"Let's go dear." Draco extended his arms out towards her.

"Hope to see you soon Hermione." Hazel said with a smile on her face, but this time Hermione didn't buy it.

"Of course." Hermione gave her a curt nod. Just as she stepped into the fireplace, she took one last look at the couple. Hazel was holding onto Blaise's arm tightly. Blaise gave her a wink while Hazel gave her an evil smile.

"Malfoy Manor." Hermione said before she disappeared into flames.

"There's something about that girl." Draco said as they were in their bedroom.

"Yeah, she wants both of you guys." Hermione scoffed.

"Oooh, are you jealous?" Draco teased and looked at Hermione.

"As if!" she replied, "But there is something odd about that girl…"

Hermione pulled up her covers, turned her back to Draco and lay there awake. Hazel's face keep floating in her head, there's something not right…her behavior was bizarre and rude.

Whatever it is, she will find out.

**A/N: **There you go guys! I'll be in Florida for about 8 days so I'll try to update when I get back!


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